On 14th January 2014 around 6:20 am, security officials carried out an illegal search without any warrants against IHH Kilis Office where the relief activities of IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation to Syrian people are organized and coordinated.
The legal search procedures were violated during the search in spite of our lawyers’ objections as all staff members were evicted from the place leaving no third party witness. The operation which is claimed to be against an employee at our Kilis Office took place interestingly not in the home of the person concerned but in the office of IHH. However the security officials returned the computers which they unlawfully confiscated from the office during the operation, after examining and finding nothing illegal.
The media swiftly described this operation as a part of an operation in six cities against individuals suspected of having links to al-Qaeda, without avoiding defamation of our foundation. The way this operation is carried out shows clearly that the attempts to draw a connection between Al-Qaida and IHH for a while now have reached another level. Those who failed to lay false claims against IHH now targets IHH staff in order to establish that false link.
IHH has been carrying out humanitarian assistance programs all around the world for 20 years. During this time, we have faced a lot of difficulties, accusations and threats from different groups, figures and governments. Since IHH is Turkey-based, legal, transparent humanitarian organization, all false accusations and attacks came to nothing.
Especially, in Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, Palestine, Somalia and Syria we have been shown as threat to the occupation and oppressor regimes. But the Mavi Marmara massacre of Israel was the turning point in these demonization processes. Since the Israeli lobbies are quite powerful in the Western countries, Israeli media could easily divert the attention from massacre of dozens and occupation of Palestine to the civic attempts to break the blockade in Gaza, aiming to demonize those attempts. IHH was the one of the organizers of this Freedom Flotilla and the only Muslim one. So, to discredit this initiative, IHH was the correct address.
After the Syrian crisis began, different illegal groups and some governments, this time, participated the choir, accusing IHH of terror links. It is very interesting that those who are disturbed by IHH’s activities of humanitarian relief and humanitarian diplomacy running in Syria latterly correlate IHH especially with Al Qaida.
IHH always extends its helping hands to the oppressed people all over the world. In this respect, it is not surprising for us to be accused by those Israeli and American media. It is very hurtful to see the aforementioned news to be placed in some local media organizations.
It is very usual for such an organization carrying out humanitarian relief activities in 136 countries all over the world to disagree with the western policies, particularly policies of Israel, Russia and the United States. While achieving humanitarian relief activities, IHH considers neither language and race nor ethnicity and color but unconditionally tries to protect whole of the oppressed people. But the oppressors see IHH as the biggest threat to their policies in the Middle East, Africa and South East Asia.
From this point of view, we wish from the media organizations making news about IHH to consider the rights of orphans and oppressed people, and would like remind them of their heavy responsibilities to take into account.
