HRW: 6 Turks taken from Kosovo to Turkey face risk of torture and abuse

Kenneth Roth, executive director of US-based rights group Human Rights Watch
Kenneth Roth, executive director of US-based rights group Human Rights Watch


Date posted: April 1, 2018

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, on Saturday tweeted that six Turkish nationals who were arrested by Kosovar police on Thursday and apparently spirited out of the country by Turkish intelligence later in the day would face the risk of torture and abuse in Turkey.

“Beyond the complete lack of due process, the six Turks who may have been sent from Kosovo to Turkey would face severe risk of torture and abuse. Whereabouts unclear,” Roth said on his Twitter account.

 

The New York-based human rights watchdog had earlier on Friday called the arrest and removal of the Turks from Kosovo “a callous disregard for human rights and the rule of law.”

“In addition to the questionable arrests, the men were sent to a country where they face a serious risk of torture. The Kosovo President, Prime Minister and speaker of parliament, who claim no knowledge of the operation, should demand a thorough investigation and explain how this travesty took place,” HRW added.

On Thursday morning Kosovo police arrested six Turkish nationals, one doctor and five educators, working at a group of schools affiliated with the faith–based Gülen movement.

The arrest sparked a political crisis in Kosovo, with Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj saying on Thursday, “The entire operation — revoking their residence permits, detention, emergency deportation and the secret extradition to Turkey of the six Turkish citizens from Kosovo territory — was conducted without my knowledge and without my permission.”

On Friday, Haradinaj dismissed the interior minister and the secret service chief.

President Hasim Thaci expressed disappointment that Kosovar institutions had failed to protect the human rights of foreign nationals working in the country but later said he was informed by the intelligence service that “their arrest and deportation is related to their illegal and dangerous activity in Kosovo.”

He also hinted that he was not pleased with the dismissal of the interior minister and secret service chief.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday expressed satisfaction with the abduction of the six Turkish nationals and vowed to bring all people affiliated with the movement to Turkey in similar operations.

Erdoğan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government pursued a crackdown on the Gülen movement following corruption operations in December 2013 in which the inner circle of the government and then-Prime Minister Erdoğan were implicated.

Erdoğan also accuses the Gülen movement of masterminding a failed coup attempt in Turkey in 2016.

Despite the movement strongly denying involvement in the coup attempt, Erdoğan launched a witch-hunt targeting the movement following the putsch.

A total of 62,895 people were detained in 2017 as part of investigations into the movement, according to Interior Ministry reports.

Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu on Jan. 5 said 48,305 people were jailed in 2017 alone over Gülen movement links.

 

Source: Turkish Minute , March 31, 2018


Related News

Separation politics and Islam makes Gülen AKP’s enemy

“The Gülen Movement is faith inspired in its motivation, but faith neutral in its manifestation.” That is how key speaker Ozcan Keles, chairperson of Dialogue Society in London, characterized the Gülen Movement in a panel discussion on the Hizmet Movement Tuesday in the European Parliament.

Wife of arrested teacher: I was offered to lie about others in exchange for my husband’s release

The wife of one of the teachers detained in a government-led operation against people deemed to be affiliated with a civil society organization demonized by the ruling party was asked to provide false testimony against those in custody in exchange for having her husband released.

Ex-employee files complaint against TİB head over purge

An email claimed that the agency tampered with its system logs to fabricate evidence that the “parallel state,” a term the government uses to describe the Hizmet movement, had listened in on around 2,000 people. The message said the electronic serial numbers (ESNs) of these people were entered into the system as per instructions from TİB President Çelik and then erased — all to make it look like the Hizmet movement had spied on Turkish citizens and then covered its tracks.

Is this corruption scandal backed by the US?

The government has developed a two-stage strategy in order to manage this scandal. The first stage was to blame foreign powers. The second stage was to declare the Gülen community as the representative of these foreign powers in the country and thereby put the blame on the Gülen community.

KYM Volunteers lend a hand to Kosovo

Kimse Yok Mu, set to reach out to 103 countries around the world as a part of its Ramadan agenda, distributed $10.000 worth of aid to the needy and orphans in Kosovo still bearing the traces of the Ottoman. The iftar dinner hosted by the Kosovans who embraced the KYM Samsun volunteers reinforced the friendship in between, on the other hand.

Hate crimes get worse in Turkey

Despite the fact that Turkey has recently adopted legislation against hate crimes, Turkey’s divisive Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has not stopped his attacks with verbal expressions of intolerance and hatred directed at the judiciary, opposition parties, the media, business groups and members of the Hizmet movement, a faith-based civic movement inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

Latest News

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

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

In Case You Missed It

Fethullah Gulen: The Idea Architect

Suspicious Deaths And Suicides On The Rise In Turkey With 54 People In Last 8 Months

Philippine army awards Kimse Yok Mu for aid and contribution to peace

Yamanlar Schools students sweep AMC 8

Watkins’ Mind Body Spirit Magazine included Fethullah Gulen among its 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People

Launch of Fethullah Gulen Chair in Islamic Studies and Intercultural Dialogue at Deakin University

Gov’t pins hope on division in Turkey as Erdoğan resorts to hateful speech

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News