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


Date posted: January 3, 2020

Albanian authorities on Wednesday deported Harun Çelik, a Turkish teacher at a school affiliated with the faith-based Gülen movement in Albania, to Turkey despite a court order releasing him from his five-month incarceration over an extradition request from Ankara.

Çelik, 41, was reportedly arrested five months ago at Turkey’s request, but the court denied the extradition.

According to Bold Medya, Çelik was released from prison on Wednesday evening, when the Albanian police picked him up for transport to Tirana’s Rinas International Airport.

He had applied for asylum in the country five months ago, but officials have not yet proceeded with the request, the report said.

Turkey had previously been able to bring Gülen-affiliated individuals back home without official extradition processes in Kosovo and Moldova.

Turkish officials claim more than 100 Gülen followers have been brought back to the country since a failed 2016 coup.

Ankara accuses the Gülen movement of orchestrating the coup, although it strongly denies any involvement.

Source: Turkish Minute , January 1, 2020

Tags: | | | | | |


Related News

Gülen calls on followers to adapt to PM’s teaching center closures

“If they close your homes, you should open dorms. If they close your dorms, you will open new homes. If they close your schools, you will respond by opening a university. And when they close your university, you should open ten schools. You should never stop marching,” Gülen said in a video that was posted at Herkül.org, a website close to the movement.

“These schools are cultivating future’s prominent Malians”

The new campus, to be comprised of two schools buildings and a dorm, is rising on nearly 3.4 acres. Established in 2002, the Turkish schools in Mali are currently offering education to some 2 thousand students in the West African country.

Australian PM praises int’l language festival’s contribution to peace

Receiving some 60 students from 19 countries who came to Australia as part of the 13th International Language and Culture Festival, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has praised the event’s contribution to peace.

Police and inspectors raid Gülen-inspired schools in Çanakkale

In yet another government-orchestrated operation targeting the faith-based Gülen movement, popularly known as the Hizmet movement, police officers and inspectors from several ministries and institutions conducted raids at schools established by volunteers of the movement early on Wednesday in the northwestern city of Çanakkale.

Romania denies extradition request for Turkish teacher over Gülen links

A Romanian judge on Wednesday rejected a Turkish request for the extradition of a 24-year-old teacher arrested by police and sought by the authorities in Ankara over links to the faith-based Gülen movement.

Mongolia’s Elite Schools sponsor reading halls at pediatric hospital

The Turkish-initiated Elite International Schools in Mongolia provided a state pediatric hospital at the capital city Ulaanbaatar with new reading halls for its young residents. At the ribbon cutting ceremony were the schools’ officials, students and hospital authorities along with the local press.

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

Globalization and the Hizmet movement

Those who infiltrate the state

Imam Wahy-ud Deen Shareef: What we see in ISIL may be fire, but it is not illumination

Didier Reynders welcomes a delegation of young artist of the International Festival “Colors of the World” in the Egmont Palace

Turkish gov’t pays cash rewards for arrest or death of Gülen supporters

Zaman launches satirical magazine, defying pressure with humor

Turkish Cultural Center Maine honors Governor LePage

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News