The priest Sefer (Aho) Bileçen of the Mor Yakup Church also known as Church of Saint Jacob in Nusaybin, Turkey Kurdistan (Bakur), Photo: mezopotamyaajansi.com
MARDIN, Turkey Kurdistan,— Turkish authorities have arrested and charged a Syriac Orthodox priest on terrorism charges after the cleric provided bread and water to members of Kurdish PKK separatist group.
Fr. Sefer Bileçen (Aho) of St. Jacob’s Monastery (Mor Yakup Church) in Nusaybin was first detained along with other local Christians on January 9, 2020, before being released on January 14 without charge. He was then re-arrested and indicted on January 16, and accused of being a member of a terrorist group. Information about the indictment was released on February 8.
Fr. Bileçen was arrested after an informant testified that he provided bread and water to Kurdish separatists at the monastery in 2018, actions that the Turkish authorities have said constitute “helping and abetting” terrorists. According to a 2018 police report, members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) visited the monastery on several occasions.
The PKK, a Marxist group, took up arms in 1984 against the Turkish state, which still denies the constitutional existence of Kurds, to push for greater autonomy in Turkish Kurdistan for the Kurdish minority who make up around 22.5 million of the country’s 79-million population. More than 40,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish rebels, have been killed in the conflict.
A large Kurdish community in Turkey and worldwide openly sympathise with PKK rebels and Abdullah Ocalan, who founded the PKK group in 1974 and currently serving a life sentence in Turkey, has a high symbolic value for most Kurds in Turkey and worldwide according to observers.
In addition to the accusation of providing food and water to the PKK members, Bileçen is also accused of failing to report their identities to the authorities, even though he was aware they were members of the banned group.
Nusaybin, where the monastery is located, is predominantly Kurdish in Turkey Kurdistan (Bakur).
Bileçen does not deny providing food and water to the PKK members, but he told authorities that his actions had no political motivation and were not a demonstration of either support or sympathy for the PKK. The priest said offering food and water to those in need was a requirement of his Christian faith, and that he never left the monastery grounds.
“I give food to whoever comes to my door. I need to do so as per my religion and philosophy,” Bileçen said through a lawyer on January 13.
“And since I am a priest, I cannot lie. I am not doing this in the name of helping an organization, but instead as per my belief. Philosophically, I cannot also denounce someone. This is also the case in terms of religion. I do not step outside the monastery anway,” he said in January.
Bileçen is due in court on March 19.
Jon Koriel, chairman of the Assyrian Policy Institute, told Asia News that he was “deeply concerned” about the charges, and that the indictment sends “damaging messages” to the Christian community in Turkey, Koriel said.
“We call on Turkish authorities to drop all charges against him without precondition,” he added.
If convicted, the charges filed against Fr. Bileçen carry a minimum sentence of seven and a half years in prison.
The PKK is considered to be a terror group by Ankara, the United States and the European Union. In 2008 EU court ruling overturned a decision to place the Kurdish rebel group PKK and its political wing on the European Union’s terror list. The United States has designated the PKK a terrorist organization since 1997.
However, Russia, Switzerland, India, China and the United Nations do not list the PKK as a terrorist organization.
In January 2020, The Court of Cassation of Belgium ratified the lower court’s judgement and ruled that Turkey’s Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK is not a terrorist organization.
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