Turkey cooperates with smugglers to catch Gulen sympathizers seeking asylum abroad


Date posted: February 20, 2018

A Turkish teacher seeking asylum in Greece claimed that Turkey has been cooperating with smugglers to hunt those fleeing the country.

The teacher, identified as Hakan, told International Business Times UK (IBTimes UK) he is familiar with a Turkish military officer who offers money to round up Gulen sympathizers escaping Turkey to Greece.

“They crossed the river near a military base where they knew a general resided who offered smugglers double if they handed over Gülen sympathizers,” IBTimes UK said when narrating Hakan’s illegal departure from his home country.

IBTimes UK said in a recent article titled, “Erdogan’s war on education: The exodus of Turkey’s teachers” that its reporters “travelled to Greece to meet dozens of Gülen sympathizers, teachers and academics who were forced to flee after their government launched a war on education.”

Thousands of people have fled Turkey due to a massive witch-hunt launched by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government against sympathizers of the Gülen movement in the wake of a failed coup attempt on July 15. The government accuses the movement of masterminding the coup while the latter denies involvement.

More than 126,000 people have been detained and some 56,000 including academics, judges, doctors, teachers, lawyers, students, policemen and many from different backgrounds have been put in pre-trial detention since last summer.

Many tried to escape Turkey via illegal ways as the government cancelled their passports like thousands of others.

Source: Turkey Purge , February 20, 2018

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