Pak Turk Schools employees in UN protection after visa extensions turned down


Date posted: February 11, 2017

Inamullah Khattak

As many as 108 Turkish employees of the Pak Turk Schools, along with their families, have been in the United Nations’ (UN) protection after Pakistani authorities denied them an extension in their visas to work in the country, DawnNews reported.

Documents available with DawnNews reveal that the individuals had requested the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, that they be resettled in a country other than Turkey after Pakistan ordered to deport them.

The applicants had told UNHCR they feared arrest, coercion and torture by the Erdogan government in Turkey in case the Pakistani government forcibly deported them to Istanbul.

The Pak-Turk schools used to be administered by a foundation linked to Fethullah Gulen, once an ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. However, after an abortive military coup in July 2016, the Turkish leadership blamed Gulen for sponsoring the overthrow attempt, resulting in a global crackdown on the religious and educational network led by him.

The Turkish government, in the wake of the attempted coup, jailed over 120,000 individuals on charges of facilitating rebels.


As many as 108 Turkish employees of the Pak Turk Schools, along with their families, have been in the United Nations’ protection after Pakistani authorities denied them an extension in their visas to work in the country. The applicants had told UNHCR they feared arrest, coercion and torture by the Erdogan government in Turkey in case the Pakistani government forcibly deported them to Istanbul.


The Turkish foreign minister had in August asked Pakistan to close the institutions. In the second week of August, the management of the chain removed the Turkish principals of their 28 schools and colleges and also dissolved the board of directors which had representation from Turkish nationals.

When the Turkish faculty’s visas expired in September 2016, the Pakistani government said it would not extend them.

The Interior Ministry also rejected an application filed by the affectees pleading for an extension in their visas, asking all affected individuals to leave the country by November 20. The decision was announced two days before Erdogan visited Pakistan in November last year.

However, the Sindh High Court later suspended the deportation order; the high courts of KP, Punjab and Balochistan had followed suit.

A spokesman for the UNHCR confirmed that the affectees will stay in UN protection until November 2017 and that efforts are underway to resettle them in another country.

“We are extremely concerned about our families in Pakistan. We applied for asylum because the Pakistani government can hand us over to the Erdogan administration anytime. We are now under UN protection,” one of the affectees, told DawnNews on Saturday.

He said that because he can no longer work in Pakistan, he had to sell household items to feed his family. “I fear starvation here and persecution in Turkey. My destination has to be a country other than Turkey,” he said.

Source: Dawn , February 11, 2017


Related News

In Netherlans court orders parents to stop calling De Roos primary a terrorist school

Judges in Haarlem have banned four mothers from calling an Islamic primary school in Zaanstad a ‘terrorist’ school. People who press ahead with saying the school supports terrorism face a fine of €1,000 with a maximum of €10,000.

The Erdoğan-Gülen encounter and democracy

It is not normal that the non-political Gülen movement would occupy such a central space in election campaigning; this is why the situation calls for some special scrutiny.

ISPO becomes Turkish schools’ success story in Indonesia

The seventh Indonesian Science Project Olympiad (ISPO), organized in Indonesia under the direction of Turkish schools, chose its first four successful participants on Wednesday.

Turkish schools are being closed down

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu stated he had ordered the closure of Turkish schools in 160 countries, arguing that the officials of those schools had sent letters to the leaders of foreign countries in which they complained about the Turkish government. The closure of these schools is a serious step, but the reason for the closure is not based on real evidence.

Gulen-linked RI schools remain calm amid coup in Indonesia

Two students wearing red long-sleeve shirts combined with checkered skirts were chatting fluently in English while playing at the grounds of Kharisma Bangsa Bilingual boarding school on Tuesday afternoon. Meters away, in a guest room within the school’s lobby, a parent was speaking with a Turkish teacher.

Second alleged disappearance in a week: Philosophy teacher goes missing

Only a day after an Ankara man was reportedly abducted, a philosophy teacher went missing on Apr 1, according to his wife. The 41-year-old lecturer, Onder Asan mysteriously disappeared on Apr 1, his wife Fatma Asan cried out on Twitter.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Abant talks on constitution

What lies beneath the prep-school row between AK Party and the Hizmet

Afghan Parents Complain to UN Over Detention of Turkish Teachers

Blanket Drive for Syrian Refugees a Great Success

Democracy tree grows in Abant as Turks and Kurds bond

Gülen condemns Pakistan attack, asks Muslims to protect minorities

Dialog High School wins top prize

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News