Kosovo’s Parliament To Probe Deportation Of Six Turks


Date posted: April 6, 2018

Kosovo’s parliament on April 4 voted to establish a panel to investigate how and why six Turkish citizens who are opponents of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were arrested and deported to Turkey.

The March 29 deportations were approved by Kosovo’s interior minister and intelligence chief, moves that prompted their dismissals a day later by Kosovar Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, who said the officials took action without his permission.

The deportations also brought criticism from rights groups and the European Union, which on April 3 said they “raised questions” about both Pristina’s and Ankara’s “respect” for human rights.

Haradinaj on April 4 said he told the “EU and Washington that this was a mistake and an accident and I have asked them for their understanding and help to fix this.”

Both Muslim-majority countries have applied for EU membership, although Kosovo’s candidacy appears to be further along than that of Turkey, which has quarreled with the bloc in recent years over various political, cultural, and military matters.

The deported Turks reportedly had ties to the Fethullah Gulen movement that Erdogan blames for a failed 2016 coup attempt against his government. Gulen, a self-exiled Muslim cleric living in the United States, and his followers deny the allegations.

Avdullah Hoti, the parliamentary head of the opposition Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), called for the April 4 emergency session on the matter, saying he was “shocked” by the arrests.

“Instead of being interviewed by authorities in Pristina, they were urgently deported to Turkey,” Hoti said.

The arrested and deported Turks were the principal and the teachers of Mehmet Akif College in Pristina.

 

Source: Radio Free Europe , April 4, 2018


Related News

Erdoğan using hate speech against Gülen movement, says MEP

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s accusations against a faith-based movement led by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen amidst a corruption scandal are both uncalled for and amount to “a kind of hate speech” that has the risk of sparking violence against the group, a senior member of the European Parliament has said.

UN to Turkey: Free and Compensate Gulen-linked Detainees

Turkey must release two men detained over suspected links to a cleric blamed for a 2016 coup attempt and pay them compensation for arbitrary detention, a UN body said on Wednesday.

Pro-gov’t daily sets up hotline for informing on Gülen followers in EU

The pro-government Sabah daily’s Europe edition, Sabah Avrupa, has set up a telephone line for its readers to report followers of the faith-based Gülen movement, against which Turkish authorities launched a witch hunt over its alleged involvement in a failed coup last summer.

Purge of ‘parallel state’ or legitimizing discrimination

The profiling of religious Muslim students who are part of the Hizmet movement caused them to be barred from obtaining high positions such as being academics at state institutions, according to Aymaz.

Lynching of the Hizmet movement by the hand of the state

The community [the Hizmet movement] is being lynched, and the state is using its power to do it. The same tactic has been used in the claims of mass wiretapping. The prosecutors involved in the investigation have denied the claims, but the black propaganda campaign has been going on for two days.

Human Rights Watch: People being tortured, abducted in post-coup Turkey

People detained after the last year’s failed putsch have been subject to torture in police custody while several others were abducted outside detention facilities, according to a recent report by the Human Rights Watch. The New York-based watchdog documented human rights abuses occurred between March and August 2017 in its 43-page report, “In Custody: Police Torture and Abductions in Turkey.”

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

Albania deports Gülen follower at Turkey’s request despite court rejection of extradition

Why is the Hizmet community alone?

Her mother was detained right after her birth, she is now growing up in Athens

AKP turns medical university into its headquarters

An unshakable spiritual unity, unique to Hizmet Movement volunteers

Why Fethullah Gulen will never support a coup?

Government media runs riot in smear campaign against Hizmet

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News