Local sources have reported that on September 18, a funeral for the three assassinated Chechen asylum seekers in Turkey was held in the Fatih Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey.

According to the information, thousands of people gathered in the mosque for the funeral prayers. The families of the victims, Fetullah Erbas who is a former Turkish MP from the Saadet Party, members of the Humanitarian Defense and Fraternity Association (IMKANDER), the Free Thought and Education Rights Association (OZGURDER), the Solidarity Association for Human Rights and Oppressed People (MAZLUMDER), the Human Rights and Freedoms Platform, the Free Jerusalem Platform, HAY-DER, MUSTAZAF-DER, as well as Turkish citizens and Chechens participated in the funeral for the assassinated Chechen asylum seekers, Berg-Khazh Musaev, Rustam Altemirov and Zaurbek Amriev.

The crowd, which gathered in the courtyard of Fatih Mosque, held Chechen Republic of Ichkeria flags, posters of Dzhoxar Dudaev and other Chechen leaders, and a lot of banners. They frequently chanted takbirs (Allah-u Akbar: “Allah is almighty”) and slogans. The most used slogans were “The assasins will be punished”, “The puppet Kadyrov will be punished”, “Our Shaheeds are our honor”, “Greetings to the Caucasus, Continue the resistance” and “Muslims wake up and advocate for the Caucasus”. The funeral and protests continued for around an hour. It was explained that the bodies will be buried later when the victims’ mothers arrive from the Russian occupied Chechen Republic of Ichkeria to Turkey.

On the other hand, an interesting detail appeared in Turkish media. According to the police officers who conducted a search at the flats of the victims, said that the victims were living in very poor conditions. They only had a sofabed, and in their kitchen they only had some potatoes, some breads and a little yogurt.

*Text was written by Waynakh Online and edited by Michael Capobianco