ABTTF President: “While the ECtHR has a judgment against our country on a similar issue, it is clear that the presentation of our mufti Ibrahim Şerif before the court on charges of ‘usurpation of office’ is based on political motives and is a means of intimidating our community.”
The hearing of the case against Rodopi Mufti Ibrahim Şerif who was elected by Western Thrace Turks which was opened against him on grounds of ‘usurpation of office’ as a result of a mass circumcision celebration to which children belonging to the Turkish community in Western Thrace had attended in the neighbourhood of Alankuyu in Komotini in 2016 and where Şerif had read prayers from the Quran which was initially planned for 7 October 2021 at the Thessaloniki Criminal Court of First Instance was adjourned to 8 December 2021 as the witness of the allegations was not present in the court.
The case had been opened by the prosecutor in 2017 based on the allegation that the Mufti Şerif had committed a crime of ‘usurpation of office’ under the pretention of being an official mufti by reading prayers during a mass circumcision celebration.
“As is known, our Rodopi Mufti Ibrahim Şerif has been accused of ‘usurpation of office’ in the past years, and our mufti has applied to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) as a result of the sentence he had in this case in our country Greece. In its decision in 1999, the ECtHR ruled that our country had violated Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights regarding freedom of religion and conscience with the sentence it gave to our mufti. In its judgment, the ECtHR stated that the national courts could not adequately base the crime of ‘usurpation of office’, as well as that it is a necessity in all democratic societies to protect all kinds of differences and tolerate them, and in this context, each community is free to determine its own religious leader, and that the sentence given to our mufti prevented him from fulfilling his duties as a religious leader. Our mufti attended the circumcision ceremony as a mufti elected by our community and his behaviour is in accordance with the ECtHR judgment related to him that was given earlier. Therefore, while the ECtHR has a judgment against our country on a similar issue, it is clear that the re-appealing of our mufti to the court on charges of ‘usurpation of office’ is based on political motives and is a means of intimidating and our community. Furthermore, it is clear that if our mufti reapplies to the ECtHR as a result of a possible sentence in this latest case against him, the court will deliver a judgment similar to the ECtHR’s previous judgment against our country. As ABTTF, we stand by and support our mufti throughout the entire legal process”, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
*Image: www.birlikgazetesi.org
