Obstruction of Conferences and Pressure

9 entries

Cancelled conferences, closed halls, blocked press statements: what was banned and why.

What is Kuytul's finding about a "secret committee hostile to religion"?

The interview after 22 April 2017: how he describes the structure he sees behind the obstructions, and why he does not lay what happened at the government's door alone.

When did the conference obstructions begin? A 2014-2018 timeline

The obstructions did not begin with the operation of 30 January 2018: the first statement was published on 13 December 2014, and then came İskenderun in 2016 and Adana in 2017.

Was the İskenderun conference really cancelled on "security" grounds?

Permission for the conference was granted on 11 May 2016, and it was then cancelled on security grounds. In the same period the posters were confiscated and sponsors were pressured; on the same day an open-air program of tens of thousands ended without incident.

Distorted

The claim that "the Furkan Foundation blocked the motorway"

The motorway really was closed. But the closure was the result of the roads being held in advance and of vehicles not being allowed out; as soon as permission for the square came through the road was opened, and the statement ended without incident.

Out of context

Did the ban decision of the Adana Governor's Office target a hall or a religious community?

The subject of the decision was not a hall but a foundation and the persons deemed connected to it; its area was the whole province and it had no end date. In the field, too, it was applied broadly, not narrowly.

Distorted

The claim that "there was a state of emergency, and they tried to hold an event despite the ban"

The governor's office did have a ban decision; but that decision concerned the conference. The press statement was on a different subject, statements in Adana did not require permission, and the park chosen was not on the list of banned places.

Partly true

The "he went knowing full well that trouble would break out" claim

In Adana on 22 April 2017 the intervention had begun before Kuytul had even set out: gas, pressurized water and plastic bullets were used against the few hundred people who arrived at the park early.

Out of context

The claim that "Furkan Foundation's programs pose a security risk"

The justification for the bans was always security. Yet in hundreds of conferences not a single pane of glass was broken, the permitted rally of 29 May 2016 ended without incident, and on 22 April 2017 not a single stone was thrown.

Unfounded

The claim that "they are being obstructed because they are enemies of the government"

The thesis presented as the reason for the obstructions does not match the record: he supported the same government's resolution process and welcomed its headscarf regulation.