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

What period does this page cover?

All of the events below took place between December 2014 and January 2018. The purpose of the page is to answer a single question: when did the obstructions begin? Separate processes belonging to later years lie outside this timeline and should not be confused with the dates here.

13 December 2014 — the first statements

The earliest record in the archive belongs to this date. Under the title "Statement Concerning the Obstruction of Our Conferences", three videos were published on the same day, a few minutes apart; all three are on this page. In the archive only the video of these records exists; there is no written text. The real information here lies not in their content but in their dates: more than three years before the 2018 operation, the obstructions had already reached a state that called for a public statement.

27-29 May 2016 — İskenderun

On 11 May 2016 the Furkan Foundation applied to the district governorate to hold a conference on the theme "The Conquest of Istanbul and the Generation of Conquest" in a wedding hall in İskenderun; the application was accepted and permission was granted. After the permission came through, tens of thousands of leaflets and posters were printed in an effort to announce the programme to the public.

Although permission had been obtained, the posters were confiscated, attempts were made to persuade the owners of the hall to give up, and sponsors were pressured. On 27 May 2016 Kuytul published a separate statement about the obstructions in Maraş and İskenderun. The conference itself was cancelled by the district governorate on the grounds that "security could not be provided".

The foundation thereupon decided to make a press statement in İskenderun on Sunday, 29 May 2016. That day the roads leading to Hatay were placed under control, buses were stopped at checkpoints and passengers were made to get off. At a motorway service area in Erzin, some seven or eight thousand people were held along with Kuytul. When they were not allowed to leave the service area, the crowd that went down onto the motorway on foot was met with pressurised water and pepper gas; the motorway was closed in both directions. After long negotiations the Hatay Governorate permitted a press statement to be made at İstasyon Square in İskenderun, and the programme took place there with the participation of more than ten thousand people. After the statement Kuytul was taken into custody on the way out of İskenderun and brought to the Erzin Police Directorate; he was released once his statement had been taken.

The details of these two days are dealt with on other pages: the "security" grounds for the cancellation and the claim that "the Furkan Foundation blocked the motorway".

22 April 2017 — Adana

For the conference on the theme "The Exemplary Human Being: The Prophet" that was to be held in Adana, the municipality's Mimar Sinan Open-Air Theatre was requested first and was not granted; a private hall was then rented. One day before the conference, on Friday, 21 April 2017, word of the ban came through the police. The governor's office had written its decision so as to cover not only that programme but every activity that might be held anywhere in the province under the foundation's name or by people counted as connected with the foundation.

The press statement that was to be made the next day was also intervened against. For the details of that day, see the scope of the ban decision and the "he went knowing full well that trouble would break out" claim; for Kuytul's own assessment of the incident, see the finding about a "secret committee hostile to religion".

30 January 2018 — the dawn raid

Houses were raided in the early hours on charges of founding a terrorist organisation and of aggravated fraud. What matters for the timeline is this: this date is a new stage that came after obstructions which had been going on for more than three years — it is not the beginning of the obstructions.

In what forms was the obstruction carried out?

• the confiscation of conference posters,
• permission being refused for applications made in due form,
• indoor sports halls being closed to use,
• the owners of wedding halls and sponsors being deterred,
• the cancellation of conferences for women.

This order of dates is also used in testing the claim that "the criticism came only once his own grievance began": the claim that "he criticises the government only because of his own grievance".