Who is behind the protest in Istanbul?
Yesterday, alongside Ankara, a large-scale protest was also held outside the building of Azerbaijan’s Consulate General in Istanbul by representatives of religious groups.
The protest, organised at the call of Özgür-Der (the Association for Freedom of Thought and Education Rights), was officially framed as a response to the uniform policy introduced in Azerbaijani schools and claims that the rules could lead to restrictions on the wearing of hijabs.
However, the course of the protest, the insulting and radical political slogans directed at Azerbaijan’s leadership and state, and the identities of the event’s key figures suggest that the demonstration was not merely a human rights protest but also carried a deeper political message.
Who is Rıdvan Kaya?
Rıdvan Kaya, chairman of Özgür-Der, the organisation behind the protest, is a well-known activist and writer in Turkey’s Islamist and conservative circles.
Today, Kaya accuses Azerbaijan of violating women’s “right to wear the hijab”. Yet he is himself widely regarded in society as hostile to women’s rights. One fact is enough to illustrate this: Kaya has been among the most active Islamist figures lobbying for Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, an international treaty designed to protect women from violence. In his view, such laws and international conventions “demonise men”.
He has described gender equality as an “ideology imported from the West that destroys family values and contradicts nature (fitrah)”, while viewing a woman’s primary role in society, in accordance with religious principles, as being within the family—as a mother and wife.
In short, the article portrays him as a deeply conservative, fundamentalist figure hostile to women’s rights. Yet this same man has suddenly positioned himself as a “defender of the rights” of school-age girls in Azerbaijan.
But that is not the main issue. The key question is who gave Kaya the blessing and encouragement to undertake this supposed human rights advocacy, and from whom he received the talking points for his statements against Azerbaijan.
Rıdvan Kaya and the organisation he leads have longstanding ideological ties and close relations with Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. One of the most visible examples of these ties occurred on July 28, 2022. When Rıdvan Kaya’s father, Hacı Nimet Kaya, a prominent figure in Islamist circles, died in a traffic accident, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan personally attended his funeral. The funeral was also attended by senior state officials, including the minister of youth and sports and the head of communications, Fahrettin Altun.
Standing beside the coffin, Erdoğan made the following remarks:
“I have known Hacı Nimet ağabey since the days of commerce in Unkapanı, from a very long time ago. We have a longstanding bond and friendship dating back to those days. We would regularly call each other on holidays and holy nights.”
Photographs and videos from the funeral, including footage of Erdoğan personally carrying the coffin on his shoulder, demonstrate that the relationship between Erdoğan and the Kaya family rests not only on political ties but also on deep personal and spiritual bonds.
Kaya’s close relationship with Erdoğan provides grounds for questioning whether the forceful protest against the Azerbaijani state in Istanbul was held with the direct authorisation or approval of Turkey’s leadership.
While Turkish police have recently responded harshly to protests by opposition groups and others—for example, demonstrations concerning Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality—the group led by Kaya was able to gather outside Azerbaijan’s consulate, chant slogans and protest without apparent obstruction. This could be seen as evidence that the state has shown a degree of “tolerance” towards the group. From Baku’s perspective, this situation could be interpreted as certain conservative factions within Turkey being used as strategic instruments of pressure in regional politics.
Source: Axar.az
