9 imams arrested for preaching sermons in Kurdish

Click to read the article in Turkish

26 people were taken into custody as part of an operation against the Democratic Islam Congress (DİK) and Religious Scholars Association (DİAY-DER) in İstanbul on July 3, 2021. Nine of the 26 detained were arrested after appearing before the judge on Friday (July 9).

Hüseyin Boğatekin from the Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD), who represents the arrested DİK and DİAY-DER members, has stated that Kurdish was cited as criminal evidence against the clerics.

'Ruling was written beforehand'

As reported by the Mezopotamya Agency (MA), lawyer Boğatekin has indicated that his clients were asked "why they had not preached the sermon (khutbah) of the Presidency of Religious Affairs and why they made interpretations other than the ones offered by the Presidency."

The clerics were reportedly asked, "Why do you have interpretations and rituals of your own" and "Why do you lead the prayers in Kurdish?"

Stressing that "freedom of religion and belief has been openly violated", Boğatekin has said, "When we came for the interrogation before the arrest, the ruling of arrest had already been written on the computer screen. We, as lawyers, saw it. We will take legal action about this."

'Our pictures at mosque cited as evidence'

Held in detention for 7 days and released on probation, İbrahim Yalın has said that the doors of their houses were broken down during the detention and they were faced with psychological violence in detention.

According to Yalın, several people were hospitalized due to their illnesses during the detention. Halil Bulut (82) reportedly fainted several times.

Yalın has also said that their pictures taken while they were leading the prayers at the mosque and in the prayer room were cited as criminal evidence against them: "Several imams faced charges for preaching sermons in Kurdish." (RT/SD)