Lawyers confirm: Turkish teachers are still in Kosovo


Date posted: March 30, 2018

Lawyers representing six Turkish teachers who were arrested in Kosovo on Thursday, have released a written statement in which they confirmed that the teachers have not been deported to Turkey yet.

Turkey’s security sources earlier told the state-run Anadolu Agency that the suspects, named as Cihan Özkan, Kahraman Demirez, Hasan Hüseyin Günakan, Mustafa Erdem, Osman Karakaya and Yusuf Karabina, were brought to Turkey via a private aircraft by the National Intelligence Organization (MİT).

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency earlier reported that the Turkish educators were brought to Turkey in a joint operation by the Turkish and Kosova intelligence services. The agency also released the pictures of the teachers as a proof, yet the pictures turned out to be taken in Turkish Embassy in Pristina.

Kosovo police early arrested the Gülenists who used to work at a group of schools affiliated with the Gülen group, which is accused by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of masterminding a failed coup attempt in 2016.

The Gülistan Educational Institutions operate four Mehmet Akif elementary and high schools in Kosovo. The schools were opened by Turkish entrepreneurs inspired by the views of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen.

Months ago, Kosovo police arrested Uğur Toksoy, an educator with alleged links to the Gülen movement. Kosovo has not extradited Toksoy to Turkey, but the ordeal still sent shock waves throughout Kosovo’s Turkish community, some of whom told the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) that they fled to Kosovo hoping to escape Turkey’s crackdown on the press and individuals and groups with ties to the Gülen group.

In the aftermath of the coup attempt, the Turkish government launched a massive crackdown on Gülen followers and arrested more than 50,000 people from all walks of life on the pretext of an anti-coup fight. The government has also removed 150,000 people from state jobs due to their alleged links to the group.

According to a report on the Prishtina Insight news website, the Gülistan Educational Institution confirmed that the arrestees are: general director Mustafa Erden; vice director Yusuf Karabina; principal of the school in Gjakova, Karaman Demirez; and Gjakova teachers Cihan Oskan and Hasan H. Günakan.

 


Related News

Turkey, ‘The Devil’s Advocate’ and ‘Titanic’

Questions to challenge the primary and unjustified premise: What judicial (or other) process determined that these corruption investigations were a coup attempt against the government? What proof or evidence do you have to support this most serious claim? What disciplinary process did you undertake to determine that the people that were purged were members and culprits of this ‘coup’? In the absence of evidence and disciplinary process how did you determine these people’s association with Hizmet? When is government corruption not a judicial coup? How can you have the right to unilaterally determine the intent and purpose of these ongoing judicial investigations when your government is implicated in them? If your government can purge over 7,000 police officers (and thereby affect and prevent these investigations) without evidence, due process or disciplinary procedure, do you not set a precedent for every future potentially corrupt government to follow?

Somali education minister praises opening of Turkish school

Somali students on Monday filled the classrooms of the famine-stricken country’s first Turkish high school, which the Turkish charity the Nile Organization established in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Education Minister Ibrahim noted that “cities other than Mogadishu are also seeking to have similar Turkish schools.”

Turkish Intelligence Agency (MIT) at center of political storm

Indeed, the MIT’s tarnished reputation can be viewed as collateral damage from the AKP’s wars with former allies (the Gulen movement) or an unintended consequence of the government’s haphazard propaganda since Gezi. The agency is seen as the nexus of the initial friction between the Gulen movement and the AKP.

Gov’t to destroy 216K math, science textbooks published by Hizmet affiliated publishers

Turkey’s Education Ministry has decided to destroy at least 216,233 copies of math and science textbooks published by publishing houses affiliated with the Gülen movement, according to Hürriyet daily.

PM Sipilä and FM Soini of Finland: Turkey needs to return to a path that respects human rights

Prime Minister Juha Sipilä and Foreign Minister Timo Soini [of Finland] have responded to a letter from the Finnish Union of Journalists. The Union’s missive asked the ministers to urge Turkey to avoid extreme measures in the aftermath of July’s failed coup.

Kimse Yok Mu opens school in Afghanistan

The former vice-president of Afghanistan Prof. Nematullah Shahrani, in his address, said, “Afghan-Turk schools have been serving our country for long years and listed among best schools ever since. Students at these schools are receiving a quality education and representing Afghanistan at international contests in the best way possible.”

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

Erdogan’s dirty deal: Afghanistan to hand over control of Gülenist schools to Turkey

Losing rationality in politics and the economy

Turkish Cultural Center honours several Senegalese women

German gov’t dismisses parliamentary question on Hizmet

Is it struggle between AK Party and Hizmet?

Police awaiting outside hospital to detain woman who just gave birth

Peace Islands Institute Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Copyright 2023 Hizmet News