MAVI MARMARA ASSOCIATION
LATEST PRESS RELEASE

UNLAWFUL DETENTION CONTINUES!
TURKISH CITIZENS IN DANGER!

Our staff members who traveled to the Central African Republic for the supervision and monitoring of our ongoing mosque projects have been unlawfully detained for 6 full days, despite having no charges brought against them.

Our association’s employees, Eyyüp Kaymaz and Veysel Özyapıcı, along with our volunteer İlhan Tatlı, traveled from Istanbul to the Central African Republic on Saturday, September 13, to oversee the inspection and monitoring processes of the Şürkiye – Emin Alper Mosque and the Abdulkadir Geylani Mosque projects, which we are building to serve the Muslim community in the region with a total capacity of 500 square meters and space for 400 worshippers at a time. They also aimed to carry out distributions for those in need in the region.

After completing their fieldwork, they were unexpectedly stopped, detained, and taken to the Port à mon Police Station in the city of Bangui, near the airport, on Wednesday, September 17, while preparing to return to Istanbul. Their statements were taken, and although no charges have been brought against them, they have been unjustly held for 6 days in a detention facility allegedly “for precautionary reasons,” where conditions are extremely poor, alongside local prisoners.

Despite ongoing diplomatic efforts, unfortunately, no positive result has been achieved so far, and the authorities in the Central African Republic have stated that “the investigation is still ongoing.” We call on our President and, in particular, our Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take a stronger stance and urgently rescue our citizens who are in danger.

We kindly ask that you report this unlawful situation and help bring attention to this injustice faced by humanitarian aid volunteers so that it can be resolved as quickly as possible.