Algerians praise Turkey while humanitarian organisation defends its records
Mosque imams in Algeria have devoted their Friday sermons to the condemnation of Israel as a war criminal and to the praise of Turkey as the flagship of noble solidarity with the Palestinian.
“We do pray for Turkey and its leaders to succeed in their noble mission to offer valuable assistance to the besieged Palestinians,” the imam of Uqba Ibn Nafie mosque in Constantine said. “The Arab regimes have let us down and it is thanks to the Turks that we have been able to resist the Israeli criminal onslaught, he said.
Other imams lauded the courage of the activists in confronting the Israeli forces as they raided the leading ship.
“It was an unforgivable crime against humanity and the activists were truly brave in facing the attackers. This contrasts with the stunning silence in which Arab regimes have lapsed. Their lack of reaction towards the siege of Gaza and the suffering of the Palestinians there is highly troubling,” they said.
More than 25 Algerians were among the hundreds of activists abroad the Gaza-bound Freedom flotilla who were detained or killed by Israeli forces last Monday.
In Istanbul, the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (İHH), the Turkish humanitarian group that organized the flotilla to Gaza, rejected allegations that it put people at risk for propaganda purposes.
“Everybody on the ship was 100 percent activists, even the crew,” said Osman Atalay, a member of İHH acting board.
Atalay, who was on the Mavi Marmara when nine people were killed, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Friday that all the passengers had volunteered for the aid trip and that many who wanted to join were turned away due to a lack of space on the vessels.
“Everybody on the ship was sensible and cultured and knew what they were doing,” he said.
Onslaughts on the Turkish organization included giving Turkey a bad international image through its Islamist status, manipulating people into dying and providing financial support to terrorist organizations.
However, Yavuz Dede, İHH deputy head, rejected the charges.
“We have a structure in which Muslims are in the majority. The term ‘Islamist’ has a different meaning for each person. Our first references are Islam, human rights and the conscience of the public opinion,” he said.
Claims that the İHH had ties with terrorist organizations are part of a smear campaign by Israel, Dede said. “Reports linking Muslim charity organizations and the İHH in particular to terrorist groups are not substantiated by evidence or a court decision.”
Dede said that the İHH did not give Muslims priority when offering aid, and went to disaster-hit and impoverished areas where they are needed.
According to Yaşar Kutluay, the group’s secretary-general of domestic relief, the İHH is planning to perform 100,000 free cataract surgeries in Africa, 40,000 of which have already been donated.
“These are not done in Muslim countries, but in Christian ones,” Kutluay added. “Islam tells us to help those in need and it does not specify any religion in that case,” he said quoted by Hürriyet Daily News.
Kutluay said all the donations are collected for specific aid missions rather the charity in general. “It is all documented and written where these donations are used,” he said.
“The İHH applied to send aid to Gaza as soon as Israel announced that such help would be delivered under its control. We said we have 100 trucks full of aid and want to take it to Gaza, which is under Israel’s control,” he said. “It has been one and a half years now and Israel has not responded to our request.”
