Turkish experts and doctors seek asylum in Greece


Date posted: December 19, 2017

A group of 33 Turks, including academics, doctors and civil servants, are seeking political asylum in Greece for fear of persecution at home.

It is the biggest mass defection since eight servicemen hijacked a military helicopter and fled to Greece after a botched coup in Turkey last year, straining already tense relations between Athens and Ankara. Politicians fear increased tensions.

Greek officials said the group of 33 posed as migrants, crossing the Aegean Sea in rubber rafts from the coastal city of Izmir and “expressed their intent for political asylum” after landing on the island of Oinousses.

Local media said that the Turkish smugglers who had helped them also requested asylum because they feared reprisals. The group of 33 are believed to be supporters of the Hizmet movement, led by the US-based cleric Fethulla Gülen, whom President Erdogan has blamed for the attempted coup.

Since the coup dozens of Turks have fled to Greece with defections peaking after a referendum in April that expanded the president’s powers. On a visit to Athens last week, Mr Erdogan, said that Greece must hand over the eight servicemen despite a court blocking their extradition. He accused the Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, of backing down on a promise to return them to face trial in Turkey for treason.

Mr Erdogan said: “If you leave it up to the judiciary there will be no result.”

EU and Greek law forbids extradition to a country where a person would be at risk of torture — a claim repeatedly argued by the eight servicemen.

Officials said that Greece had yet to receive any “formal or informal request” to return the latest defectors.

Source: The Times , December 18, 2917

Tags: | | | |


Related News

Turkey’s Erdogan Battles Country’s Most Powerful Religious Movement

The intensifying hostility between Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Gulen movement, an influential religious organization once seen as a key Erdogan ally, shows how the Turkish premier’s power is unraveling.

Turkish people upset that democratic progress is being reversed: Islamic scholar Gülen

The Turkish people are upset that democratic progress has gone into reverse over the last two years, Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has said, speaking in his first interview since the graft probes that have damaged the government and widened the rift between his movement and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Myanmar-based family abducted by Turkish embassy from Yangon airport

Myanmar-based education professional M. Furkan Sökmen and his family were detained yesterday at the Yangon International Airport while trying to board a flight to Bangkok. the teacher said the Turkish ambassador to Myanmar had pressured police to confiscate the family’s passports.

Kamel Daoud: Open letter to Erdogan – You’re not welcome in Algeria

On behalf of those you killed, imprisoned, tortured, you are not welcome, Erdogan! No, Erdogan, you’re not welcome in Algeria. We are a country which has already paid its price of blood and tears to those who wanted to impose their caliphate on us, those who put their ideas before our bodies, those who took our children hostage and who attempted to kill our hopes for a better future.

11th Turkish Olympiad opens with grand ceremony in Ankara

İPEK ÜZÜM A grand inauguration ceremony was held at 19 Mayıs Stadium in Ankara on Saturday night for the 11th International Turkish Language Olympiad, a festival that celebrates the Turkish language and this year brought together 2,000 students from 140 countries around the world. The 11th Olympiad, which is organized by the International Turkish Education […]

Celebrating Ramadan with Turkish asylum seekers

Haldun and his wife, Funda, fled Turkey about two years ago with their three daughters and are now seeking political asylum in the United States because if they go back to Turkey they face arrest and likely torture. Once a successful manufacturer of washing machine products, Haldun, Funda and their children are now a family without a country; their factory turned over to a government trustee, their passports taken away, and their property and belongings nationalized.

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

Istanbul court re-arrests former Zaman reporter minutes before leaving prison

Consultation from Gülen’s perspective: The relationship between the ruler and the ruled

American students volunteer for Kimse Yok Mu aid campaign

Silence of the (AKP) lambs

No return from democracy, Zaman editor Dumanlı says under detention

Alaton: I’m telling everyone about Turkish schools’ contribution to world peace

Turkish Cultural Center Maine honors Governor LePage

Copyright 2024 Hizmet News