Turkey based Chechen associations have published a press release related to the recent assassination of three Chechen asylum seekers in Istanbul and condemned the incident.

“We, the Turkish citizens with Chechen-Ingush ethnic origin whose ancestors came from the Caucasus, condemn the recent bloodthirsty murders of the brothers of the Chechen-Ingush nation who were forced take refuge in Turkey.

As it is well known, during the ongoing war, which had lasted more than 15 years, the Chechen-Ingush nation has lost more than 250 thousand valuable sons and daughters, including 45 thousand children; tens of thousands have been forced to live disabled for the rest of their lives; hundreds of thousands of civilians have been forced to flee their homeland and to continue their lives around the world due to the repression, fear and violence in the territory of the Chechen people. Some of these victims took refuge in Turkey, which has been known by the Chechen people for centuries as a friendly and brotherly country.

Unfortunately, in recent years, we have witnessed bloodthirsty assassinations of these people who took refuge in our country, Turkey. These murders, which were committed on the territory of the Republic of Turkey, are first of all crimes against humanity and also against the law. It is the obligation of Turkey to protect and take necessary measures for these people’s lives and security. These people are victims of a war and they took refuge from the honorable Turkish nation.

The ruthless murders of those people in recent times deeply hurts the saintly Turkish people as well as the Caucasus originated Turkish citizens whose numbers are at around 7 million. Our state must find the perpetrators of these incidents and birng them to justice as soon as possible, and only in this way the pain will ease a little bit. For these reasons, we are waiting for our state to take action immediately. At the same time, we demand that the Turkish authorities take all necessary measures to prevent similar actions.

We ask mercy from Allah for the Shaheeds (inshaAllah) and offer our condolences to the victims’ mournful relatives and all of the Chechen-Ingush nation,” said the joint press statement of Ankara Chechen Association, Kahramanmaras Chechen Association and Ceyhan North Caucasus Culture Education Association.

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