This is not Israel, this is Turkey!

ANKARA – Police force Turkey forcibly dispersed members of Islamic mass organizations (mass organizations) who were conducting activities in a mosque southeast of Gaziantep. Those who were disbanded were members of the Furkan Foundation, which is known to be anti-regime to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government.

The forced disbandment sparked protests on social media.

Also read: Turkish Police Evict Alparslan Kuytul’s Followers from Three Mosques

Members of the Furkan Foundation, which is critical of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), were initially worshiping by performing iktikaf for the last ten days of Ramadan on May 3, 2021 when police arrived and disbanded it.

The police force also sprayed pepper to stop the activity.

The foundation said that it had complied with COVID-19 prevention measures by wearing masks and maintaining social distancing. However, it is still prohibited to carry out such activities in mosques during times of limiting social activities.

Alparslan Kuytul, the leader of the Furkan Foundation who is serving a prison sentence on politically motivated charges, had previously said they would insist on remaining iktikaf at the mosque amid the COVID-19 restrictions.

They condemned the police intervention on the iktikaf activities and the detention of its members.

“This is not Israel, this is Turkey!” the foundation said as reported TurkisMinute, Monday (3/5/2021), insinuated the treatment of Israeli security forces who attacked mosques and detained Palestinians – a practice condemned by Erdoğan’s government and his party.

“They allow people to gather in stadiums, public transportation and factories despite the policy of restrictions but instead prevent a small group of people from praying at a mosque,” the foundation continued.

The Turkish government has previously imposed partial lockdowns, with local territories and imposed a curfew on weekends in a bid to mitigate the pandemic’s impact on the economy. The lockdown was fully implemented for three weeks after Turkey saw its COVID-19 infection rate averaging around 60,000 per day during the end of April.

The new restrictions, which take effect on the evening of April 29 and will last until May 17, will prohibit people from leaving their homes, except for grocery shopping or other essential needs, for the remainder of the month of Ramadan as well as for the three Eid holidays.

However, Furkan members criticized what they described as a double standard against his group, saying the AKP did not impose restrictions on COVID-19 when it held a party congress attended by thousands of people.

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