The association, called the Association for the Defense of the Country, Martyrs’ Families, Human Rights and Solidarity (YURT-SAV), is allegedly operating the under direction of retired Gen. Hurşit Tolon, who is currently in jail for suspected membership in a criminal organization known as Ergenekon, which is accused of plotting to overthrow the government.
The closure case, filed on Wednesday, came because of the association’s use of the word “martyrs” in its name. The word cannot be used by associations other than those indicated in the Military Associations Law. The Diyarbakır Governor’s Office contacted the association twice this year, demanding that it remove the word “martyr” from its name, but the association refused to do so.
The second Ergenekon indictment accused YURT-SAV of receiving orders from Gen. Tolon to organize activities against the government. The association’s chairman, Ahmet Büyükburç, paid frequent visits to Tolon’s office in Ankara to attend meetings and arranged with the retired general to organize rallies against the government, according to the indictment.
Dozens of Ergenekon members, including members of the military, businessmen and journalists, are in jail on charges of working to create chaos in the country with the ultimate purpose of triggering a coup d’état.
According to the second indictment, YURT-SAV’s Büyükburç and Tolon frequently held meetings in the past to discuss ways to increase public dissatisfaction with the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government. “As a martyrs’ association, raise your voice against the government,” Tolon reportedly ordered Büyükburç.
Reşit Can, provincial chairman of the Association of Social Solidarity for Families of Martyrs and Victims of Terror in Diyarbakır, said the prosecutor was right to file a closure case against YURT-SAV as the laws do not allow everyone to establish martyrs’ associations.
