Obstruction of Conferences and Pressure
The claim that "the Furkan Foundation blocked the motorway"
Out of context
Claim
Fact
29 May 2016, Hatay. That day the Tarsus-Adana-Gaziantep Motorway was closed to traffic for a time. The closure is a fact. But it was not the beginning of the day; it was its result.
The sequence was this. When the conference in İskenderun was cancelled, the foundation decided to make a press statement. The roads leading to Hatay were held in advance; buses trying to reach the region were stopped at checkpoints, passengers were made to get off, and the buses were sent back, leaving people on foot. Those who could nevertheless get through were halted at the Erzin Dağ-sa service area on the motorway. Some seven or eight thousand people were kept waiting there along with Alparslan Kuytul, and because the entrances and exits of the service area were held, vehicles could not be taken out.
The motorway closed at exactly this point: those who could not get their vehicles out of the service area went down onto the road on foot, met with intervention, and stayed on the road.
How the closure came to an end matters at least as much as how it began. As soon as the Hatay Governorate gave permission for a press statement at İstasyon Square in central İskenderun, the crowd withdrew from the road, got into their vehicles and moved to the square accompanied by the police. The statement, attended by more than ten thousand people, ended without incident.
Why this label, "Out of context"?
The part that is true is this: the motorway really was closed and traffic really was disrupted. We do not deny this.
But closing the road was neither the plan itself nor its aim. What was planned was a conference in an indoor hall; when that was cancelled it turned into a press statement in a square. Being left on the road came about after vehicles were not allowed out, and it ended the moment a lawful space was offered. A crowd whose aim was to close the road does not withdraw from it as soon as permission comes through.
How the day began
The conference to be held in İskenderun on Sunday, 29 May 2016 had been cancelled by the district governorate on security grounds. The foundation thereupon decided to make a press statement, and people set out for İskenderun from many provinces of Turkey. There was no action planned that day that involved going onto the motorway; what was planned was a hall programme and, after it, a statement in a square.
Four stops along the way
The chain described in the source runs, in order, as follows:
- The roads were held in advance. Entry was refused not only to İskenderun but to the whole of the Hatay region.
- Buses were held up. A great many buses trying to reach the region were detained at checkpoints. On intercity buses, passengers guessed at from their clothing were made to get off; the same was done to those trying to get through on a city bus, and a driver who knew nothing of the affair was fined.
- People were left on foot. Some vehicles were stopped in various directions, passengers were made to get off, and the buses were sent back.
- The last point was Erzin. Those who managed to get through all the checks met TOMAs at the Erzin Dağ-sa service area on the motorway. Some seven or eight thousand people gathered at the service area along with Kuytul and were held there.
The vehicles were locked in at the service area
At the service area Kuytul was called to a meeting with police officials; he was asked to call on the crowd to disperse. After the meeting he said this to the crowd:
"They want me to give you a talk here in the middle of nowhere and then for us to disperse. I did not gather this many people here to tell them to disperse; now let everyone get into their cars, and we will go as far as we can go."
Those who got into their vehicles saw that the entrances and exits of the service area had been held. That is, two things were being said to the crowd at the same time: do not stay here, and do not leave here.
The motorway closed at this point
Those who could not get their vehicles out of the service area tried to go down onto the road on foot and met with intervention. Because of the crowd that insisted on staying on the road, the motorway closed. The crowd, which included women and children, was met with pepper gas and pressurised water, an ambulance was called to the scene, and one person's foot was broken in the scuffle.
The point to be noted in this picture is this: the road was not a space chosen for a demonstration but the place where movement was stopped. The crowd got out there while trying to pass through in their vehicles.
How the closure ended
When the crowd did not leave the road, the authorities made contact with Kuytul and a settlement was sought. In the end the Hatay Governorate gave permission for a press statement at İstasyon Square in central İskenderun. Once the permission came, the crowd left the road, went to their vehicles and entered the square accompanied by the police. The participants held at the other checkpoints were released as well.
The statement, attended by more than ten thousand people, ended without incident. The security that was said to be impossible to provide for a programme in an indoor hall had been provided in the open air and at a far more crowded event.
The end of the same night
After the statement Kuytul left the square in four vehicles and was stopped at the first service area on the way out of İskenderun and taken to the Erzin Police Directorate to give a statement. He was released once his statement had been taken. At the end of a day on which the motorway had closed, no one was held responsible for that closure and arrested.
The cancellation decision itself is under a separate heading: Was the İskenderun conference really cancelled on "security" grounds? All the dates on this page belong to the year 2016; they have nothing to do with the case opened by the operation of 30 January 2018.