The Organization of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed People (known as Mazlumder based on its Turkish

Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

 acronym) is a Turkish

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

 association. It was established on 28 January 1991 by 54 lawyers, journalists, authors, publishers and businessmen.

Background

While the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (founded in 1990) was initiated by the Human Rights Association (founded in 1986), Mazlumder can be called a reaction to the main focus of these organizations on left-wing prisoners. Mazlumder is mostly known for its work on discrimination based on religious grounds. Problems arising from the wearing of headscarves by women in public positions or measures against officers in the army with alleged ties to religious sects are taken up by Mazlumder. The association counted 4,000 members in 1997. In 2008 the number of members was again given as 4,000.

Mazlumder carries out its activities with the help of membership subscriptions and donations made to the society. Its headquarters are in Ankara

Ankara

Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....

. It has branches in İstanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

, İzmir

Izmir

Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...

, Adana

Adana

Adana is a city in southern Turkey and a major agricultural and commercial center. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, 30 kilometres inland from the Mediterranean, in south-central Anatolia...

, Bursa, Kocaeli

Izmit

İzmit is a city in Turkey, administrative center of Kocaeli Province as well as the Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality. It is located at the Gulf of İzmit in the Sea of Marmara, about east of Istanbul, on the northwestern part of Anatolia. The city center has a population of 294.875...

, Konya

Konya

Konya is a city in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. The metropolitan area in the entire Konya Province had a population of 1,036,027 as of 2010, making the city seventh most populous in Turkey.-Etymology:...

, Diyarbakır

Diyarbakır

Diyarbakır is one of the largest cities in southeastern Turkey...

, Batman

Batman, Turkey

Batman is a city in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey and the capital of Batman Province. It lies on a plateau, 540 meters above sea level, near the confluence of the Batman River and the Tigris. The Batı Raman oil field, which is the largest oil field in Turkey, is located just outside...

, Kayseri

Kayseri

Kayseri is a large and industrialized city in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It is the seat of Kayseri Province. The city of Kayseri, as defined by the boundaries of Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality, is structurally composed of five metropolitan districts, the two core districts of Kocasinan and...

, Malatya

Malatya

Malatya ) is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of its eponymous province.-Overview:The city site has been occupied for thousands of years. The Assyrians called the city Meliddu. Following Roman expansion into the east, the city was renamed in Latin as Melitene...

, Sivas, Trabzon

Trabzon

Trabzon is a city on the Black Sea coast of north-eastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. Trabzon, located on the historical Silk Road, became a melting pot of religions, languages and culture for centuries and a trade gateway to Iran in the southeast and the Caucasus to the northeast...

, Van

Van, Turkey

Van is a city in southeastern Turkey and the seat of the Kurdish-majority Van Province, and is located on the eastern shore of Lake Van. The city's official population in 2010 was 367,419, but many estimates put this as much higher with a 1996 estimate stating 500,000 and former Mayor Burhan...

, Ağrı

Agri

Agri may refer to:* As shorthand or prefix referring to agriculture* Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development * Azerbaijan–Georgia–Romania Interconnector * Ağrı, a city in eastern Turkey* the Agri in southern Italy...

, Gaziantep

Gaziantep

Gaziantep , Ottoman Turkish: Ayintab) previously and still informally called Antep; ʻayn tāb is a city in southeast Turkey and amongst the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. The city is located 185 kilometres northeast of Adana and 127 kilometres by road north of Aleppo, Syria...

, Kütahya

Kütahya

Kütahya is a city in western Turkey with 212,444 inhabitants , lying on the Porsuk river, at 969 metres above sea level. It is the capital of Kütahya Province, inhabited by some 517 804 people...

, Sakarya

Adapazari

Adapazarı is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of Sakarya Province. The province itself was originally named Adapazarı as well. Adapazarı is a part of the densely populated region of the country, known as the Marmara Region. As of 2010, the city has a population of 560,876 ...

, Şanlıurfa

Sanliurfa

Şanlıurfa, , often simply known as Urfa in daily language , in ancient times Edessa, is a city with 482,323 inhabitants Şanlıurfa, , often simply known as Urfa in daily language (Syriac ܐܘܪܗܝ Urhoy,Armenian Ուռհա Owr'ha, Arabic الرها ar-Ruhā), in ancient times Edessa, is a city with 482,323...

, Uşak

Usak

Uşak is a city in the interior part of the Aegean Region of Turkey. The city has a population of 180,414 and is the capital of Uşak Province. The mayor is Ali Erdoğan ....

, Afyon, Akyazı

Akyazi

Akyazı is a town and district of Sakarya Province in the Marmara region of Turkey. The mayor is Yaşar Yazıcı .- External links :* *...

 and Hatay

Hatay Province

Hatay Province is a province in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast. It is bordered by Syria to the south and east and the Turkish provinces of Adana and Osmaniye to the north. The province is part of Çukurova, a geographical, economical and cultural region that covers the provinces of...

 provinces. Mazlumder carries its activities through five administrative units, six commissions and various committees linked to the commissions. Chairpersons of the organization have been Yılmaz Ensaroğlu, Ayhan Bilgen, Halit Çelik and Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu. The current chairperson is Ahmet Faruk Ünsal.

Goals

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".

The goals of Mazlumder are:

• Mazlumder considers all kinds of political, economic, social, legal, psychological, cultural and actual initiatives that limit human rights in a manner that is not in conformity with human dignity and the principles of justice as a human rights violation and "oppression".
• Mazlumder believes in the importance of the fight for human rights without discrimination as to who violates them and to fight against all kinds of ill-treatment, torture, denigration and rape.
• Malumder is against torture. It is an attack on the right to life and can by no means be legitimised.
• Mazlumder endorses the unlimited use of freedom of expression as long as it does not contain violence or insults.
• Mazlumder considers the right to belief as a basic right to be used parallel to the freedom of expression.

Methods

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 produces various kinds of publications, including periodicals, books, bulletins and visual activities.
• Mazlumder organises seminars, conferences, panels, panel discussions, symposiums, competitions, exhibitions and other cultural activities such as films, video shows and plays.
• Mazlumder commissions experts and specialists to carry out research on social, cultural, economic and political areas, and surveys to reveal public opinion, and also to publish books including translation of books from foreign languages.
• Malzumder extends its financial, moral and legal supports without expecting anything in return to the people who were wronged or who are underprivileged through the violation of their human rights.

Activities and persecution

Besides a large number of publications including annual reports as well as reports on specific incidents that members of Mazlumder (partly together with other organizations) researched Mazlumder and its branches have organized several campaigns. In many cities Mazlumder organized so called Platforms for the Freedom of Religion.

Like the Human Rights Association and the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey Mazlumder has also become a target for persecution. There have been trials against Mazlumder on allegation of "disseminating separatist propaganda" and in January 1999 the branch in Urfa (Kurdish area) and in June 1999 the branch in Malatya were closed down on governor's order. In June 1999 the Minister of the Interior asked all governor in 80 provinces of Turkey to search the headquarters and branches of Mazlumder. On 1 May 2003 a court in Turkey confirmed that Özkan Hoşhanlı, former chair of the local branch of Mazlumder in Malatya should be imprisoned for fifteen months for attempting to participate in demonstrations in April and May 1999 against the ban of headscarves. On 28 October 2003 he entered Yeşilyurt

Yesilyurt

Yeşilyurt is a small town in southwestern Turkey at a distance of from the city of Muğla, center of Muğla Province.It is accessed by a turnout at a short distance from Muğla-İzmir highway just before entering Muğla...

 Prison.

External links

Mazlumder's English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

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