This Ongoing War: A Blog: 14-Jan-14: In Turkey, urgent questions about when a humanitarian group qualifies as terrorist

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

14-Jan-14: In Turkey, urgent questions about when a humanitarian group qualifies as terrorist

From today's Turkish raid [Image Source]

Before moving on to today's story from Turkey (below) please first read a three-and-a-half-year-old post of ours: "6-Jun-10: It's not that complicated: Is IHH a humanitarian group or a terrorist group?"

That post reviews some fairly basic facts, and winds up with these statements:

This information is freely available on the web. You don't need to be a terrorism specialist to see and be troubled by it. So why are otherwise credible sources raising snakey questions that undermine the allegations against IHH as if they were part of an Israeli conspiracy? ... You don't need to buy Israel's case to see that, being generous, IHH has a murky past and a highly compromised standpoint when it comes to jihad and acts of terror.

Please also read this: "4-Oct-12: With humanitarians like these, who needs militant barbarians? Revisiting the Mavi Marmara"

Now from the past hour, this Turkish report:

Turkish police have detained 25 people, including some taken in a raid on the branch of the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (İHH) in the southern province of Kilis, as part of an operation against al-Qaeda. Anti-terror police coming from the eastern province of Van have searched the main office of the İHH and its depot. The raid is part of simultaneous operations against al-Qaeda in six provinces including Istanbul, Van, Kilis, Adana, Gaziantep and Kayseri. Three people have been detained by anti-terror police in Bağcılar, Fatih and Küçükçekmece districts in the Istanbul leg of the operation. The suspects were sent to Van, according to the reports... The İHH released an official press statement today concerning the raid, with General Secretary Yaşar Kutluay saying the operation was aimed at preventing the İHH from sending humanitarian aid to Syria. “They are trying to show the İHH as if it is related to terror organizations,” Kutluay said, claiming that the operation was an “attack” on the NGO, which is said to be the biggest organization in Turkey sending aid to Syria... The İHH, an NGO which bases its humanitarian relief action on Islamic principles, was the operator of the Mavi Marmara and one of the main organizers of the Gaza Flotilla in May 2010.

Today's news from Turkey is bound to get some close analysis from people like us with terrorists on their minds.

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