Turkey deports former EU official for alleged Gulen-ties


Date posted: September 26, 2016

The Turkish authorities prevented a former EU official from entering its territory. Joost Lagendijk, a former EU parliament member and EU rapporteur, was deported from the Sabiha Airport in Istanbul on Sunday.

“Turkish authorities stopped me on my return from the Netherlands at Sabiha Gökcen airport. They deported me back to the Netherlands,” the Dutch former politician said.

“Turkey required me to apply for a special visa at the Turkish embassy in the Netherlands,” Lagendijk wrote on Twitter on Sunday. “I hope it is only a bureaucratic obstacle and not a decision to block me forever.”

The decision is most likely part of the purge against the Fethullah Gulen sect after the failed military coup in July.

After the coup attempt, the Turkish government blamed the Islamist Gulen movement for orchestrating military coup in Turkey. However, the movement’s US-based leader denied the accusations.

Lagendijk wrote as a columnist for the pro-Gulen newspaper Zaman and Today’s Zaman, until they were closed.

He lost his job at the pro-Gulen Sabanci University that was closed by the government for ties to the Gulen movement.

Lagendijk is a former Green Left Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and served as the joint chairman of the Turkey-EU Parliamentarians delegation.

He was also known as the ‘son-in-law of Turkey’ for marrying Turkish journalist Nevin Sungur in 2006.

Source: ARA News , September 25, 2016

Tags: | | |


Related News

Erdogan caught off guard in latest political crisis

Nobody thought Turkey’s powerful Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan would be caught so off guard — not after last summer’s Gezi Park protests — as he apparently was before the major graft probe, which involves four of his ministers, including the minister of interior and his sons. It is clear he sees a “shadow state” behind the operation and holds the Gulen movement responsible. Indications are Erdogan intends to “strike back” with a massive purge within the police.

Our new neighbor [Al-Qaeda] poses a great risk for Turkey

Because some European countries failed to share intelligence with Turkey on al-Qaeda militants moving through Turkey to Syria — a dynamic that turned Syria into an Afghanistan and Turkey into a Pakistan — a fairly negative outlook on Turkey emerged. Al-Qaeda and similar organizations were able to step up their presence and activity in Syria by using the Turkey-Syria border, which has become uncontrollable in recent years.

Overwhelming public response in support of Bank Asya

Solidarity campaigns against the Banking Regulation Supervision Agency’s (BDDK) decision to have the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) temporarily take over the management of Bank Asya have been springing up across the nation.

Turkish army profiled Tahşiyeciler as serving al-Qaeda

The 13 March 2009 report, prepared by Turkish General Staff Intelligence Unit Head, Lieutenant General Hakkı Pekin, reveals the Tahşiyeciler group’s ideology strongly aligned with al-Qaeda, viewing its leader Osama Bin Laden as Mahdi, the prophesied redeemer of Islam.

What else should Gülen say?

Fethullah Gülen’s stance on corruption and anti-democratic practices has never changed. Osman Şimşek, the editor of herkul.org, which broadcasts and publishes Gülen’s speeches, recently published a letter that Gülen sent to Erdoğan in May 2006. In the letter, Gülen warns the prime minister that his government had begun to deviate from its democratic line.

International community’s Erdoğan problem

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has returned to his agenda of political Islamism since the 2011 elections even though he had rejected it in the past, and he quickly set out to implement his plan to purge the Hizmet movement, a plan he had made long ago.

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

Turkish charity Kimse Yok Mu delivers aid to Afghani flood victims

Turkey After the July Coup Attempt – Alan Makovsky’s testimony before Committee on Foreign Affairs

Syrian refugees worry about housing as winter approaches

Education for Sustainable Development

U.S. State Department, Citing Security, Suspends [Fulbright] Teaching Program in Turkey

US-based think tank says Gülen movement progressive in terms of pro-Kurdish reforms

Local Muslims share Ramadan meal with each other and the community

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News