After the tragedy experienced in central Africa, first humanitarian relief team from Turkey started its operations there. IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation distributed emergency aid in kind and cash to 500 families in Bangui, the capital of Republic of Central Africa.
IHH team distributed flour, cooking oil, sugar, rice and cash to the families it determined according to the operations it carried out in the region since the beginning of the incidents. After getting the aid materials from IHH, Muslims who took shelter in mosques in various districts of capital Bangui thanked to their brothers in Turkey sending the aid materials and they prayed for them.
IHH's Africa Board Director Serhat Orakçı who is in the region wrote an writing about the situation in the region.
Situation in the region
In his writing indicating that people escaping from violence began to take shelter in mosques, schools, madrasahs and churches, Orakçı summarizes the situation in the region as:
¨The point arrived at is a dangerous position where Muslims and Christians have been polarized and two religions have came face off against. The size of the humanitarian crisis in the country has expanded gradually. Those who can, left the country and those who can't, began to take shelter in safer places. It is supposed that more than 600 thousand people left their homes in the country which has a population of 4.5 million.
French military presence has been changing the balances and neutralizing the government in the country. The government that is in the shade of military intervention became functionless and banks, schools and business firms in the country have been closed for a long time. Public institutes have been on a standstill and the government cannot pay the salaries of the civil servants. The streets are full of military vehicles and control points. Freedom of movement in the streets is nearly impossible.¨
Perversion of the Western Media
Expressing that western media organs are very far from being objective in the news they reported, Orakçı exemplifies the perversions made as:
¨First of all perversions stands out when they are naming the actors of the incidents. Western media organs call the gangs as anti-Balaka whereas native population call them as ¨Balaka¨ meaning ¨Those having big knives-machates¨. That is they portray the gangs which is causing violence as they are against using machetes. In other words they are miscalling the actors causing violence. As a result of this discourse, people pick up that Seleka is the center of harm causing violence in the country. In fact, Seleka's group was disbanded after March, now it is not seen anymore. Another perversion is that they argue Muslims living in Republic of Central Africa are foreign elements. They give the message that Muslims are minorities and they are immigrant merchants coming from neighboring countries as Chad and Sudan and that the real owners of the country are Christians. Whereas, this also is a problematic view because the Islam has long been the dominating religion in the the country for a long time and the country had been ruled by Muslim sultans before the colonial period. This situation was interrupted by the colonial period and the people in the region was christianized by the missionaries. So in fact the Muslims are not foreign elements but they are from owners of the country. Another perversion is about that the president is Muslim, this is often mentioned and they imply that Muslims are ruling the country even though the majority of the country are Christians. This doesn't reflect the truth exactly because there is a mixed government in power. The number of Christian ministers are more than the number of Muslim ministers. Moreover the prime minister is Christian and he is nearly the single authority in the country.
Western media overlooks the mosques full of dead bodies. While Muslims cannot find a place to bury their dead, they are presented as the cause of the violence in the country. If Balaka gangs, the main actor of violent events were Muslims not Christians, I wonder how would the incidents be conveyed as? I guess they would call them as a radical Islamist, al-Qaida related terrorist groups. However they deliberately don't call Balaka gangs as terrorists and radical religionist. On the contrary they call them anti-Balaka and they reflect them as being anti-violence.¨
It reminds Rwanda Genocide
Remarking that Muslims and Christians were living at peace without fighting in Republic of Central Africa until yesterday, but the country has come to a dangerous point recnetly, Orakçı completes his writing as:.
¨The scene reminds us Rwanda genocide. Radical religionist terrorist Christian Balaka gangs have waged war on Muslim elements (including the Muslim soldiers in peace force) and they have been using all kinds of inhuman violence as if they swore to kill off all Muslims. France undermined the present government and the business life, education and social life in the country doesn't work at all. Western media has been in an effort to imprint that Seleka is the one using violence and in an effort to overlook the situation of Muslims in the country. But unfortunately nobody except western media has been interested in the incidents taking place in the country. Muslim countries neither isn't dealing with the issue. This causes Muslims in the country to feel lonely and desperate. On the other hand Christian terrorist organization Balaka is being armed and bolstered by some people. Such a bad game is planned and they are greasing the skids to make these two religions fight with each other. If the incidents don't settle down, we may face a solemn war.
