Turkey investigating 4,167 Gülen followers in 110 countries


Date posted: April 24, 2018

At least 4,167 people in 110 countries are being investigated in Turkey over their links to the Gülen movement, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Thursday.

An arrest request issued by the Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office for three Turkish nationals, forcibly returned from Gabon to Turkey earlier this month, has revealed that Turkish prosecutors are investigating 4,167 people in 110 countries over their links to the movement.

The three men were detained after being brought to Turkey in a joint operation by the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and local Gabonese law enforcement.

The Istanbul prosecutor demanded that the court overseeing the trio’s case arrest them, saying that 4,167 people including the three have been under investigation for some time.

Eighty people affiliated the Gülen movement have been captured and brought to Turkey from 18 countries, Turkish government spokesman Bekir Bozdağ said on April 5.

The Turkish government accuses the group of masterminding a July 15, 2016 coup attempt, although the movement denies any involvement. More than 120,000 people have been detained and some 55,000 put in pretrial detention, while over 145,000 have lost their jobs amid the government’s post-coup crackdown on people deemed to have ties to the group.

A number of countries including Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Georgia and Myanmar have handed over academics, businessmen and school principals upon the Turkish government’s request despite the fact that some of those victims already had refugee status with the United Nations.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s lawyer Hüseyin Aydın said earlier this month that Turkish intelligence officers could be involved in more abductions around the world “in the coming days.”

A total of 14,640 Turkish nationals claimed asylum in European Union countries in 2017, according to Eurostat data. The corresponding number was 10,105 in 2016 and only 4,180 in 2015.

“With reports of Turkish intelligence activities in multiple countries, including other kidnapping plots, governments should become much more willing to offer Turkish citizens asylum and must look very skeptically upon Turkish government requests for arrest and extradition,” Freedom House’s Nate Schenkkan wrote in The Washington Post on April 1.

Meanwhile, US-based monitoring group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the arrest of Turkish nationals in Kosovo showed a callous disregard for human rights and rule of law.

The statements by HRW and Freedom House came on the heels of an MIT operation that captured six Turkish nationals, one doctor and five educators, working for a group of schools affiliated with the movement in Kosovo.

 

Source: Turkish Minute , April 20, 2018


Related News

Cihan TV network celebrates 10th birthday

AYTEN ÇIFTÇI / MEHMET TAYANÇ / KORAY TEKIN, İSTANBUL The Cihan TV network, which encompasses 94 local and regional television broadcasters, marked the 10th anniversary of its establishment on Thursday night. Members of the network, established in 2003 to strength local media, benefit from accurate, fast and trustworthy news sources for free. A reception was […]

International festival of language and culture held in Ulaanbaatar

Organized by the International Turkish Language Association for the second time, the fest introduced cultures of Brazil, China, France, Germany, Japan, Philippines, Turkey and United Kingdom.

Turkey Coup Attempt Explained

The most detailed explanation of the coup attempt in Turkey on July 15. Who is behind the coup attempt and how the government started a crackdown on critics? Turkey’s coup attempt explained.

Kimse Yok Mu purchases houses for 11 Soma families

MUSTAFA KUŞEN / MANISA The Turkish charity Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There) has financed the purchase of houses for the families of 11 miners who were among 301 killed in a mining disaster in the district of Soma in western Manisa province in May. On May 13 Turkey was shocked by an explosion and […]

Turkish school shelters mountaineer in Nepal

Ufuk Yünlü, a Turkish mountaineer who was caught on Mount Everest at an altitude of 5,100 meters during last Saturday’s devastating earthquake in Nepal, has been offered shelter at Turkish Meridian International School.

Turkmen Alevite Association and Kimse Yok Mu distribute aid to 1840 families in Ramadan

Özdemir Özdemir, president of Turkmen Alevite Association, thanked Kimse Yok Mu and expressed that Ramadan is an important time for Alevite-Sunni brotherhood. Two organizations worked together, showing a good example of solidarity and brotherhood. The Alevite association identified 1840 needy families in Ankara and distributed food packages, which were supported by Kimse Yok Mu.

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

‘Every minister I met in Africa asked for more schools’

Hate speech creates new opportunities for Hizmet movement

Kimse Yok Mu opens two orphanages, Quran course in Senegal

Colors of world meeting at Turkish Language Olympics

Gov’t effort to bring down bank would have international repercussions

President Museveni supports Turkey’s reaching out to Africa

Pro-gov’t daily repeats Bharara controlled by Gülen movement, calls him ‘stupid’

Copyright 2023 Hizmet News