Yalova

Freedom of conscience and religion

Defender

 

Mazlumder

 

The Organization of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed People (knowns as Mazlumder based on its Turkish acronym) is a Turkish human rights association. It was established on 28 January 1991 by 54 lawyers, journalists, authors, publishers and businessmen.

After the 1980 coup, violations of human rights of various civil, social, ethnic and religious groups increased in Turkey. A broad coalition of people came together to contest the ills they saw in the new government:

  • Violations of human rights (in universities, jails, police stations etc.)
  • Antidemocratic laws and practise of the new constitution
  • Xenophobia against all non-secular Turks and all foreigners

To combat these ills, they formed Mazlumder.

Mazlumder has become one of the most powerful associations of human rights in Turkey. They are the leading organization opposing the headscarf ban imposed by the Turkish government, and the one of the leading organizations supporting the rights of discriminated citizens and refugees. For example, on 18 April 2010, it is 6. Year of “Walk to Headscarf Freedom” held by MAZLUMDER Kocaeli Branch Thousands of people including MAZLUMDER volunteers and NGO members, attended demonstration held in Kocaeli by MAZLUMDER Kocaeli Branch on the occasion sixth year of head scarf protests named as “Walk to Headscarf Freedom”. MAZLUMDER General Chairman Ahmet Faruk ÜNSAL, MAZLUMDER Kocaeli Branch Chairman Çetin TAHTACI, Canan Osman ARAN, Sabiha ALPAT, Ahmet ÖZEN addressed in demonstration about headscarf ban and called government to end this violation.

Ahmet Faruk ÜNSAL told in his statement “headscarf ban must end in education and business life because it is universal citizen rights. We supported government’s initiatives about different problems but it is worrying that there has not been any initiative for headscarf yet. We support constitutional change but changes are not still enough for solving headscarf ban”.

Mazlumder contains thousands of members with a spectrum of political views.

As a civil society formation independent of any political or religious group or clique, Mazlumder primarily aims to generate a human rights perspective in Turkey, with the slogan “Against the oppressor whoever s/he is, on the side of the oppressed whoever s/he is”.

It takes its reference from the "Alliance of the Virtuous" which had the Prophet Mohammed as one of its members and whose philosophy required that the oppressed should be supported no matter who he is and the oppressor should be stood against no matter who he is. In addition to this, Mazlumder positions its struggle for human rights and freedoms in line with such main contributions to humanity as the Ten Commandments, Magna Carta, the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, the UN Declaration of Human Rights, and the European Convention on Human Rights.

The stated goals of Mazlumder are:

  • To fight in every way against all kinds of economic, social, legal, psychological, cultural and actual drawbacks and hindrances that limit human rights in a manner that is not in conformity with human dignity and the principles of justice; to protect the nature of all living creatures, primarily human beings that suffer from oppression.
  • To fight against all kinds of torture, insult and invision, no matter who performs them and no matter who suffers from them; and to expose the oppressor and oppression.
  • To incorporate the dimension of morality and responsibility to the existing human rights perspective, inspired by the above-mentioned fundamental references.
  • To inform authorities of existing violations and organize verbal or written protests and demonstrations.
  • To create a public awareness about the significance of human rights thereby contributing to the struggle against violations of human rights and freedoms.

Mazlumder addresses human rights issues in several ways:

  • It investigates and reports on human rights issues to various authorities. Mazlumder perceives informing the public as the exercise of a right.
  • Mazlumder initiates campaigns of aid in order to establish cooperation with the oppressed suffering from the mass violation of human rights as in situations of migration and war.
  • Mazlumder organizes panels, symposiums, conference activities; publishes articles, bulletins and books; prepares radio programs; and participates in TV programs in order to be able to develop the culture of human rights and be able to make a contribution to the conscience of seeking rights.
  • Mazlumder provides information to all diplomatic and political individuals, researchers and press members that apply to it from all parts of the world for information; and it also addresses to the human rights problems in the country of the addressee and emphasizes that indexing the defense of human rights to political benefits is wrong.

Mazlumder aims to mobilize its members, working voluntarily, for the human rights struggle, to increase the awareness of individuals at all ages and positions for the rights violations occurring around them.

As a platform defending the freedom of expression and association of all political thoughts, Mazlumder establishes dialogues with institutions conducting studies on human rights and freedoms in all parts of the world. Mazlumder establishes all national and international dialogues with the aim of the development of human rights and freedoms and of bringing violations to an end.

Mazlumder opposes the use of human rights as a political argument among states and considers human rights and freedoms to be above states and pacts.

Mazlumder accepts that the basic rights possessed by human beings can not be taken from them and can not be assigned without differentiating location and time. It defends that universal natural law is the field of human solidarity and it should be implemented and defended without any discrimination.

 

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