Malaysia detains Turkish academic second time at Turkey’s request
Date posted: May 5, 2017
İsmet Özçelik, a Turkish academic with a UNHCR refugee card, was detained again on Thursday in Malaysia amid news that two other Turkish citizens who were believed to have been kidnapped were in fact detained by the authorities.
“Today my father was detained again in Malaysia. There are two other Turkish citizens also kidnapped by the Malaysians. He has Refugee Card from UNHCR. My father is still under protection of UNHCR in Malaysia. I’m waiting for all human rights institution to help. There is no statement from Malaysian authorities about my father,” Suat Özçelik, a journalist and son of İsmet Özçelik, tweeted on Thursday, calling on international rights organizations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch monitor the developments.
İsmet Özçelik was initially detained and put in prison on Dec. 13, 2016 upon an alleged request by Turkish authorities in Malaysia.
Malay security personnel reportedly raided the house of academic İsmet Özçelik (59) on the grounds that his passport had been cancelled by Turkey over alleged involvement in a coup attempt on July 15.
“They [Malay authorities] were in plain clothes. They said they were given authority to deport him [Özçelik] to Turkey,” Özçelik’s son told Turkey Purge in an e-mail.
“When we resisted, Malay police got involved and arrested my father on charges of obstructing civil servants in carrying out their duty. My father has been sent to Sungai Buloh Prison. Along with him, my elder brother, Süheyl Özçelik, another Turkish citizen, Erdem Eroğlu, and two other Malay citizens were arrested. However, they all were later released pending trial. The immigration office cancelled my father’s visa on Dec 14, thus preventing his release. He is in a prison, in very poor conditions. He is with 150 others; yet the prison’s capacity is only 50. If we cannot renew the visa, he is going to stay there for at least 12 months. He is a cardiac patient and has diabetes.”
Lawyers representing Özçelik are now seeking renewal of the visa in order to secure his release from prison for an offense for which he has yet to stand trial or be convicted of.Muhammad Faizal Faiz Hasani, one of his lawyers, recently spoke to Malay Mail Online regarding the issue. Faizal said the Magistrates Court here had denied Özçelik bail because the Immigration Department had
cancelled his visa just a day after his arrest on Dec. 13, 2016.
“Ismet needs to get DG Immigration to re-validate his visa and determine why Immigration cancelled it. If it was at the request of the Turkish Embassy, why and on what grounds.
“The magistrate may let us have his passport for a few days for renewal with Immigration if we so request; the magistrate will only release Ismet on bail after his visa is renewed,” he said when describing the court’s views on the matter.
“In the meantime, Ismet will deteriorate in prison without medication,” he added.
Turkey survived a military coup attempt on July 15 that killed over 240 people and wounded more than a thousand others. After the putsch, the government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused the Gülen movement for the attempt.
The movement rejects any involvement.
The Turkish government, however, launched a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.
Peshawar High Court Restrains Federal Government From Deporting Turkish Teachers Of Pak-Turk School Till Dec 1
The petitioners submitted before the court that Pak-Turk schools had been imparting quality education to hundreds of Pakistani children. They said that the forced deportation of Turkish teachers and other staff members was illegal as they had been provided protection under the Constitution.
Students from West Africa gather at Turkish school in Senegal
Turkish Schools continuing to contribute to the educational system of the Dark Continent. “Yavuz Selim Educational Institutions which are operating in Senegal, organized Math Olympiads in Dakar with the participation of students from five neighboring countries.
Arınç says Gülen’s offer to hand over prep schools ‘sacrifice’
Turkish Deputy PM Bülent Arınç has described the offer of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen to hand over prep school management to the state an example of “sacrifice” and promised that the issue of prep schools will be resolved in a way that pleases everyone. “God knows that we don’t have an ambition to manage [these prep schools]; our desire is that these services don’t become the causalities of a disagreement,” Gülen reportedly said.
In Erdogan regime western-oriented intellectuals, bureaucrats, liberals, Kurds, civil society activists in mortal danger
Those in prison—educated, Western-oriented intellectuals and bureaucrats, liberals, Kurds, civil society activists, and supporters of exiled cleric Fethullah Gülen—are in mortal danger. When blood flows from the prisons, it will be no accident nor should anyone believe Erdogan’s security forces were simply reacting to a crisis.
Netherlands investigating Turkish professor’s remark that killing Gülenists is permissible in Islam
Dutch officials have initiated an investigation into Rotterdam Islamic University President Ahmet Akgündüz, a staunch supporter of the Turkish government, who said that killing members of the faith-based Gülen movement was legitimate.
CHP leader says Erdoğan’s UN speech only served to promote Gülen movement
Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has criticized a speech delivered by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at a UN meeting on Tuesday in which he called on world leaders to take measures against the faith-based Gülen movement, saying that Erdoğan’s speech only served to promote the Gülen movement.
Latest News
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
After Reunion: A Quiet Transformation Within the Hizmet Movement
Erdogan’s Failed Crusade: The World Rejects His War on Hizmet
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
In Case You Missed It
Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?
Turkish Olympiad students visit Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek
Politically motivated police raid of kindergarten in west Turkey
Gulen, Erdogan and democracy in Turkey
Turning wedding excess into act of charity
CHP deputy asks PM to stop arrest of women after giving birth
Turkey’s trampling of freedoms is Europe’s problem too
