The TICF (Turkish Islamic Cultural Federation) in The Netherlands is one of the two Dutch mosque federations which cooperates with the Turkish Diyanet (Presidency of Religious Affairs in Turkey: Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı) in the Netherlands. Today it has released a press statement requesting to suspend/ (and permanently) terminate the twitter account of Geert Wilders leader of the Dutch Freedom Party which spreads racist anti-Islam messages.

The letter starts as follows:

Dear Sir/Madam,
As the authorized Attorneys at Law of our client, TICF (Turkish Islamic Cultural Federation) in The Netherlands, I would like your attention to the following:
Our client is of the firm opinion that the below specified publications of mr. Geert Wilders on your Twitter platform constitutes a breach and violation of your established and published Rules for content on Twitter. Therefore please note the following facts and applicable rules being the reason for our clients request.

The TICF reserves the right to not only file a legal complaint against Twitter for failing to uphold its own terms, but to submit claims in (but not limited to) Pakistan, Indonesia, Turkey and Morocco.

According to the TICF Wilders abuses the freedom of speech and holds Twitter accountable for failing to protect Muslim minorities against hatespeech. An in interview with the Dutch daily AD spokesperson Köse refers to a tweet from Wilders in 2017 in which he calls the prophet Muhammad a ‘pedophile and a mass murderer’. Wilders has responded to this action by the TICF by calling it ‘madness.’

One can read the full text here: TICF – Request to suspend/terminate the Twitter account of mr. Geert Wilders