The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has decided that there is "no grounds for an investigation" following a criminal complaint filed against Halil Konakcı, the imam of the Uluçınar Mosque in Pendik, Istanbul—who has drawn backlash for his calls for a caliphate and his statements targeting secularism, women, and artists—over his remarks "praising the French occupation of Hatay." The opposition reacted sharply to the prosecutor's decision.
According to the report in Cumhuriyet, the decision argued that "the allegations were abstract and general in nature, and were not based on concrete information, documents, or evidence." The decision claimed that "according to the existing information and documents in the file, the allegations in question were not of a nature to require the opening of an investigation."
İYİ Party Spokesperson Kürşad Zorlu, Zafer Party Chairman Ümit Özdağ, and HKP Deputy Secretary General Tacettin Çolak reacted to the prosecutor's decision.
While Zorlu stated, "We absolutely do not find this decision correct," Özdağ also reacted by saying, "How much more concrete can an accusation and complaint be? What kind of concrete evidence should there be?" Stating that Halil Konakcı is hostile toward the secular republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and his comrades-in-arms, Çolak said, "Konakcı sees being a religious official as a privilege, and since the anti-secular crimes he has committed so far have remained unpunished, he continues to commit new crimes without hesitation. The man is like a crime machine."
News Source: 12punto
