Tatar political emigrant, former political prisoner and veteran of the Tatar national movement Rafis Kashapov appealed to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on behalf of Muslim women — political prisoners from Russia, whose letter he posted on his Facebook page (the text of the letter is provided below). In short, they are trying to inform the head of Turkey about the abuses committed by law enforcement agencies against Muslims in Idel-Ural under the guise of fighting extremism, including the Hizb ut-Tahrir party, which is banned in Russia. Apparently so that he could intervene with his Russian counterpart for their release.
What can we say here — we can only sympathize with the wives and relatives of Muslim prisoners, pray for them and try to help them with donations. It is also commendable that Tatar veteran Rafis Kashapov, himself a political prisoner and now a political emigrant, wants to help his fellow believers in trouble. However, we doubt that the President of Turkey will be able (or if he wants to, only Allah knows better) to help Russian Muslims, Tatars, who have become victims of state repression, since Russia is an important partner for Turkey. Not to mention Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is not viewed favorably in Turkish ruling circles (and vice versa, let’s be honest), but even another movement banned in Russia — Nurcular, which is highly respected in Turkey and its ruling circles, has tried through the Turkish authorities to request an end to the persecution of its members and the ban on its books in Russia. Unfortunately, in vain. It should be understood that in its relations with foreign states, the leadership of Turkey tries to adhere to the principles of international law, including non-interference in internal affairs and recognition of the inviolability of internationally recognized borders. It is precisely the latter principle that allows Turkey to occasionally stand up for the Crimean Tatars, who have ended up under Russian rule against their will — after all, for international law, Crimea is currently an occupied territory of Ukraine, a fact recognized by Ankara. The situation is different for Muslims in Russia itself, within its internationally recognized borders. We are not aware of any case, at least publicly, in which Turkish leaders have spoken out on their behalf to their Russian counterparts. On the contrary, on the initiative of circles of the ruling party interested in strategic cooperation with the Kremlin, the idea of how wonderful life is for its Muslims in Russia is increasingly spreading in Turkey.
As for the international institutions, especially the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), human rights defenders are actively working in them, providing them with information and presenting cases of political repression in Russia, including against Muslims. Let us hope that at least they will be able to achieve what the Muslim rulers, who are bound by state interests, cannot.
To the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Speaker of the Turkish Parliament, Binali Yildirim, and international organizations such as the UN, OSCE, PACE, and the ECHR. The wives of arrested Muslims in the Volga and Urals regions ask you to draw public attention to this lawlessness, crime and terror to which their sons and husbands are subjected. I ask you to translate this appeal into Turkish, English and Arabic and send it to the above-mentioned addresses! And I also ask you to distribute this letter to human rights organizations in the CIS and to the media! The list of those convicted in fabricated cases is constantly growing.
Dear representatives of public and human rights organizations, lawyers, advocates, public figures and journalists. This letter is a collective letter of wives and parents of Muslims arrested on March 14, 2017 in Kazan and other districts of the Republic of Tatarstan. Criminal cases have been opened against our husbands under Article 205.5, accusing them of organizing and participating in the activities of an organization that is recognized as terrorist under Russian legislation. The reason for our appeal to you is the injustice being perpetrated against our husbands. We sincerely hope that you will pay attention to our letter and help us. Our husbands are accused of organizing and participating in the activities of a terrorist organization. According to the law, in order to declare an organization or group criminal, it is necessary to first establish the composition of the crime in the actions of its members, the existence of these actions, and the criminal nature of these actions. Only then can the organization or group be declared criminal. In the case of Hizb ut-Tahrir, everything was done the other way around. Since there was no composition of the crime in the actions of its members, it was decided to first declare the organization itself criminal, which was done on February 14, 2003 by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. No one bothered to provide evidence and justification for this decision. Representatives of Hizb ut-Tahrir were not invited to this court hearing. If this organization were really terrorist, as they try to portray it, they would not be afraid of the testimonies of its representatives. But apparently, the presence of strong arguments for the fact that this organization is not terrorist is frightening. After all, it turns out that all these criminal cases are fictitious. Human rights organizations and individuals have repeatedly appealed to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, asking for the arguments on which the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation based its decision. But there was no answer, and there still is none. It was only in 2006 that we were able to obtain the decision itself, dated February 14, 2003. And the question is not about the status of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, because no judicial authority is immune from legal errors or deliberately unjust decisions. Nor is the annulment of a decision, including on the grounds of its inconsistency with reality, excluded. After all, even the most fundamental and apparently unshakable decisions and principles have been revised in the course of time or have proved to be wrong, contrary to common sense. We and our husbands and sons need to hear: «The decision of the Supreme Court is not up for debate. It has been made and is final.» Probably the same thing was said by the courts of the Inquisition when they sent to the stake those who said that the earth was round. They were sent to the stake, declared heretics, troublemakers, and apostates, simply because their views contradicted the traditional religion of the time, which was beneficial to the authorities. But time showed who the real criminal, heretic, etc. was. We also remember the secret closed courts of the Stalinist repressions, when people were tortured in the Gulag or shot, not for real crimes, but for dissent, declared dangerous enemies of the people on the basis of anonymous testimonies of secret witnesses. Time has shown who the real enemy of the people was when millions of innocent people were killed and destroyed in the camps.
What is the purpose of the charges against our husbands and sons? Is it really to protect society from «Islamic extremism»? Or is it to «protect» from dissent, to prevent people from opening their eyes? To prevent them from understanding what is happening, even in politics? After all, our husbands, as Muslims, as Islam commands them, wanted other people to understand the truth of this life, to believe in God and to live according to His laws. They called them to Islam and wished them well. And now they are being persecuted. They are persecuted for their thoughts, only for their political and religious views, for reading Islamic literature, for spreading Islam outside the censorship of the official clergy, and nothing more. Moreover, a person does not hide his political and ideological thoughts if he believes in them. So the persecution has become political and ideological, not criminal. And this is supposed to be a secular state that supposedly does not interfere in religious matters and provides freedom of conscience and religion? And this is supposed to be a democratic state where freedom of speech is prohibited by censorship? And this is supposed to be a constitutional state where everyone is equal before the law? We understand that whatever actions we take, whatever authorities we approach, they will have little influence on the verdict. Our husbands and sons have been shown on every federal and local channel as terrorists and dangerous criminals. But our husbands and sons are not criminals, they are not terrorists. We want the community to know this, and we want the community to know the truth about our husbands and sons and what they are imprisoned for. We ask for your help.
Signed, [Names of Signers]