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

Gülen offers condolences for slain İstanbul resident shot at protest

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has offered condolences for Uğur Kurt, a 34-year-old who was waiting to attend a funeral outside a cemevi, an Alevi house of worship, was hit by a stray bullet allegedly from a police weapon and died in hospital on Thursday night.

Will Gülen movement become a political party?

Esteemed Fethullah Gülen frequently underlines: “Forget getting a share of political power. We cannot accept control of the world even if it is presented to us on a gold tray because this would create disappointment among those actively supporting our cause. And people would think ‘They’ve also been deceived by the love of position and sense of interest. All these [voluntary] efforts were for the sake of getting a share in the political power’.”

Ankara forces Arbil to close Turkish schools in KRG

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan asked Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani to close Turkish schools in the autonomous region of Iraq during Barzani’s visit to Turkey in mid-February, according to sources close to the KRG prime minister.

Couple jailed for watching Fethullah Gülen videos at Internet cafe

An Ankara couple has been sent to prison after they were caught watching videos belonging to US-based Turkish scholar Fethullah Gülen at an internet cafe earlier this week.

Faces of Manisa prisoners rendered unrecognizable due to torture, lawyer says

The faces of people held in a Manisa prison have become unrecognizable due to heavy torture, Seda Tanrıkulu, a lawyer representing some of the prisoners, told the Turkish media. “When I met with prisoners, there were bruises on the face of D.K., made by the boots of officials,” Tanrıkulu said.

Turkey detainees tortured, raped after failed coup, rights group says

Jason Hanna and Tim Hume Captured military officers raped by police, hundreds of soldiers beaten, some detainees denied food and water and access to lawyers for days. These are the grim conditions that many of the thousands who were arrested in Turkey face in the aftermath of a recent failed coup, witnesses tell Amnesty International. […]

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

Message to the conservative intellect on the Armenian issue

PM Erdoğan confesses to creating ‘super judges’ for anti-Hizmet plot

Kimse Yok Mu affiliate Time to Help volunteers back in Belgium from Africa

Turkish Cultural Center aims to bridge East and West

Kosovo Extradition of Wanted Turkish ‘Gulenist’ Suspended

The Abant Platform: the Arab Spring and Turkey’s role

Dr. Jill Carroll speaks on Fethullah Gulen and The Gulen Movement

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News