Fresh political raids targets leading Turkish NGO Kimse Yok Mu

Police teams from the Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime division stormed the office of UN member NGO Kimse Yok Mu’s branch in Turkey’s northwestern province of Kocaeli on Wednesday in the latest political raid to sweep the country.
Police teams from the Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime division stormed the office of UN member NGO Kimse Yok Mu’s branch in Turkey’s northwestern province of Kocaeli on Wednesday in the latest political raid to sweep the country.


Date posted: September 2, 2015

On early Wednesday morning, police Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime division KOM teams entered the Kocaeli branch of Kimse Yok Mu and confiscating applications by utilizing the reasonable doubt clause which allows police to conduct raids without any substantiated evidence. Providing aid to 4.5 million across 113 countries, Kimse Yok Mu has repeatedly been subjected to arbitrary government backed audits, passing all inspections with flying colors.

“This operation constitutes nothing more than a smear campaign,” said Kimse Yok Mu’s lawyer Sait Yılmaz. “There are no irregularities here, nor any crime or evidence that could justify a raid into this NGO which works transparently for the good of the public, helping out the people in need.”

Yılmaz also expressed that the raid, arriving just weeks ahead of the Muslim holiday of sacrifice, Eid al-Adha, is attempting to discourage donors. The Muslim holiday is one of the most important dates in the calendar year for Kimse Yok Mu increasing its operations to provide food to the impoverished in dozens of nations.

The president of the branch, Mevlüt Topçu, stated, “This operation is an attempt to sway public attention away from important developments in the country.” He added “The volunteers working inside are quite reasonable people and have never done anything wrong. We would never tolerate any wrong doing.”

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has continued to draw harsh criticism over targeting certain sections of society, conducting raids against educational institutions, media as well as private enterprises.

Source: BGNNews , Sept 2, 2015


Related News

The real issue is the National Security Council [in Turkey]

A recent report by the Taraf daily indicating that the National Security Council (MGK) had formed a plan to destroy the Gülen movement has sparked discussions. This is only natural, considering that the current political administration is known for its adherence to religious values. This report is huge news because the government failed to oppose the military in the MGK meeting.

Media freedom in Turkey takes another blow

On Dec. 25, Mahir Zeynalov sent out two tweets. “The first tweet contained a link to a news report about the second wave of a massive graft operation and how police blocked a raid involving more than 40 suspects, including Saudi businessman Yasin al-Qadi — listed as a specially designated terrorist by the United States,” Today’s Zaman reported Jan. 31. Zeynalov’s tweets are no longer present on his Twitter account. “’Turkish prosecutors order police to arrest al-Qaeda affiliates, Erdogan’s appointed police chiefs refuse to comply,’ read the first tweet. In the second tweet, Zeynalov shared a news report detailing al-Qaeda suspects’ escape from the country after police chiefs blocked the raid on Dec. 25.”

Kimse Yok Mu helps flood victims in Tajikistan

The aid organization Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There) has extended a helping hand to the people of Tajikistan to meet their humanitarian needs after severe floods struck the country last month. Kimse Yok Mu sent a team of doctors, a search-and-rescue crew and an emergency governance expert to Uyali, a town in the province […]

International panel on Mary was held in Istanbul

An international panel, titled “Mary in the Holy Scripture and Qur’an,” was jointly held by the Journalists and Writers Foundation’s (GYV) Intercultural Dialogue Platform (KADİP), the Tevere Institute and İzmir Intercultural Dialogue Center (İZDİM) at WoW Hotel in Istanbul. The two-day meeting was attended by a number of leading scholars and intellectuals of the field and focused on such topics as “Approaches to Mary,” “Debate on Mary,” “Mary Doctrine and its Historical Development.”

Irrationality rules

Nobody outside of Turkey understands why a government that claims to be innocent and portrays itself as the victim of dirty conspiracies uses every legal — and according to many illegal — means at its disposal to stop further investigations and punish those who gathered the evidence or wrote the indictments.

Rethinking the state-people relationship [in Turkey]

We all know that Turkey has to solve a number of critical problems to become a democratic, pluralist and transparent state that is ruled by law. It would be a good start to ask who is going to have priority in the country: Is it the people or the state? Once you put the people at the center, rather than the state, then you have to accept that no way of life can be imposed on people.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Global education turns Turkish teachers into world citizens

Unity in diversity

Turkey’s Kurdish question and the Hizmet movement

Turkey’s New Maps Are Reclaiming the Ottoman Empire

Van NGOs: Calling Hizmet movement ‘virus’ and ‘hashhashin’ unnaceptable

Parents dream of their children being admitted to Turkish schools in Senegal

Self-criticism by the Hizmet movement

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News