A Turkish family has disappeared in Pakistan, and suspicion turns to intelligence agencies


Date posted: October 11, 2017

Haq Nawaz Khan, Pamela Constable

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A commotion in the downstairs unit of a house shared by schoolteachers from Turkey woke the neighbors. A Turkish school official and his family were being taken away in the night.

Mesut Kacmaz, his wife and two daughters were restrained, blindfolded and hustled into unmarked pickup trucks in Lahore last month by more than a dozen plainclothes security agents, according to Fatih Avci, a neighbor and fellow teacher. When he tried to intervene, Avci said, he was also handcuffed and hooded, and transported to a secret facility.

“The police officers were pushing and shoving to arrest them,” Avci said in a statement after he was held for several days and released. “I saw . . . Mr. Mesut’s wife lying on the floor and two lady constables pulling her to get on her feet. Their two teenage daughters were weeping loudly.”


“The police are expressing ignorance about the picking up of Mr. Mesut, so who did this?” asked Muhammed Zubair, a doctor whose children attended the PakTurk school in Peshawar and who represents the parent-teacher association. “This is a dangerous trend and will send a negative image of Pakistan abroad.”


Pakistani authorities have not acknowledged detaining the group or holding the Kacmaz family members, who have not been seen since Sept. 27. Turkish educators and Pakistani human rights groups have alleged that they were abducted by members of the state intelligence agencies and have filed court petitions seeking their recovery.

On Tuesday, the Lahore High Court ordered the Interior Ministry to seek a reply from those agencies as to whether the family is in their custody. It also ordered the government to provide protection for other Turkish educators and halt their deportations. Police officials told the court they had no information about the family.

The court action came at a moment of escalating diplomatic tension between the United States and the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that has ties to the teacher issue. The Trump administration on Sunday suspended the issuance of non-immigrant visas in Turkey after the arrest of an employee of the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul; the Turkish government responded soon after with the same restrictions.

Kacmaz, like Avci and dozens of other Turkish nationals, was an educator at a chain of 28 PakTurk Foundation schools across Pakistan that were shut down last year at the request of the Erdogan government. Since then, the teachers have remained in Pakistan under temporary court orders and U.N. protection. About 11,000 Pakistani students attended the schools, considered among the best in Pakistan.

They are also a project of the Gulenist movement, led by Turkish Muslim scholar Fethullah Gulen, who lives in Pennsylvania. Erdogan, a close ally of Pakistan, accused Gulen and his followers in Turkey of provoking an attempted coup in July 2016. He then carried out a broad crackdown on Gulenists and other dissidents and asked Pakistan to deport the teachers.

Shortly after Erdogan visited Pakistan in November, the government in Islamabad deported some teachers and canceled others’ visas, but school officials appealed to the courts and sought asylum through the U.N. refu­gee agency.

The teachers, under U.N. protection while awaiting asylum rulings, assert that if forced to go home, they are likely to face arrest and abuse at government hands.

“If we return to Turkey, we will be detained on arrival,” said Ser­dal Arslan, the former principal of a PakTurk school in Peshawar who is now jobless and unwelcome in Turkey and Pakistan. “The Turkish government will not renew my children’s travel documents, and Pakistani authorities are asking us to leave. What happened to Mesut can happen to any of us.”

Kacmaz had been an outspoken critic of the Erdogan government on social media, people in the Turkish immigrant community said, and is a director with the private Rumi Forum in Pakistan.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, asked during a recent visit to Washington about the alleged abductions and the treatment of the Turkish teachers, said that he had no information about the Kacmaz case but that the teachers would be deported after delays granted by Pakistani courts and U.N. officials expire.

“You’d do the same thing in America after someone’s visa expires. You deport them,” he said in a meeting with journalists at the Pakistan Embassy. “This is something which is internationally accepted. That is the only reason,” Asif added. “Otherwise, why would we do . . . such a horrendous thing, the kidnapping of a family?”

Arslan said that of about 110 Turkish teacher families, 40 have left Pakistan for other countries and 70 have remained in hopes of obtaining asylum. Most are sharing houses or apartments and rarely go out, he said.

Pakistan’s alliance with the increasingly repressive Erdogan government has put it at odds with many Western countries, including the United States.

Erdogan’s suspension of U.S. visitor visas came after an employee of the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul was arrested for alleged links to the Gulenist movement. The abrupt action created chaos and confusion in diplomatic, travel and business circles. Turkey has previously welcomed Western visitors and investors, and its economy has relied heavily on foreign tourism.

After the Kacmaz family disappeared, protests and news conferences were held by rights groups in Pakistan denouncing the abductions. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan charged that more than 20 armed people in plain clothes had taken the family, and it asked the government to immediately release them.

Pakistani parents of former students at the PakTurk schools also protested, saying Pakistan’s mistreatment of the teachers would further isolate Pakistan internationally.

“The police are expressing ignorance about the picking up of Mr. Mesut, so who did this?” asked Muhammed Zubair, a doctor whose children attended the PakTurk school in Peshawar and who represents the parent-teacher association. “This is a dangerous trend and will send a negative image of Pakistan abroad.”

Constable reported from Islamabad. Jennifer Amur in Washington contributed to this report. 

Source: Washington Post , October 11, 2017


Related News

Hizmet unmasks ‘undemocratic’ Erdogan

What appears to be going on in Turkey now is a struggle between the Hizmet movement and Erdogan. However, when you scratch the surface, it is easy to detect the increasing authoritarian and arbitrary rule under Erdogan’s government. All Gulen is doing is asking for a more democratic Turkey.

Detained Woman Covers 50 Km Twice A Day To Feed One-Year Old Baby In Turkey

Şule Akkaya, a primary school teacher who was detained on June 1, 2017 as part of an investigation into the Gülen group, reportedly covers 40 to 50 km twice a day to breastfeed her one-year-old baby in Zonguldak.

Gülen-linked GYV brings message of peace, dialogue to polarized Turkey

The 20th anniversary of the traditional annual dinner hosted by the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), whose honorary chairman is Fethullah Gülen, was held on Tuesday in İstanbul, with a message focusing on peace, solidarity and dialogue against the backdrop of a highly politicized climate that has recently divided and polarized Turkish society. “Let’s emphasize […]

Romanian Judge Blocks Extradition of Second Arrested ‘Gulenist’

A Romanian judge has blocked the extradition to Turkey of a Turkish schools director linked to the man accused by Ankara of orchestrating a failed 2016 coup, hours after the director was arrested on Tuesday.

Turkish headmaster accused of Isis links met Malaysian PM, not fit profile of an Isis operative

Karaman, who was the principle of a prestigious international school that promotes critical thinking as well as holding his post with the Malaysian-Turkish Dialogue Society, does not fit the stereotypical profile of an Isis operative.

Fethullah Gulen and the Kurdish Issue

Fethullah Gulen ponders over many issues that range from faith to ethnic problems in Turkey. Furthermore, through faith and cultural values, Gulen is able to mobilize wide and influential segments in the society. I think, his words should be paid attention and listened.

Latest News

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

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

Turkey Systematically And Deliberately Jails Women As Part Of Fear And Intimidation Campaign

Turkish Schools In Somalia

Informant on Gülen movement members says he fabricated testimony to avoid jail time

What do people say about corruption, gov’t and Hizmet?

Pro-gov’t media continues smear campaign against Hizmet movement

Out of the rubble, a chance to mend relations

Hundreds celebrate Clifton’s diversity at festival

Copyright 2023 Hizmet News