Malaysia detains Turkish academic second time at Turkey’s request
Date posted: May 5, 2017
İsmet Özçelik, a Turkish academic with a UNHCR refugee card, was detained again on Thursday in Malaysia amid news that two other Turkish citizens who were believed to have been kidnapped were in fact detained by the authorities.
“Today my father was detained again in Malaysia. There are two other Turkish citizens also kidnapped by the Malaysians. He has Refugee Card from UNHCR. My father is still under protection of UNHCR in Malaysia. I’m waiting for all human rights institution to help. There is no statement from Malaysian authorities about my father,” Suat Özçelik, a journalist and son of İsmet Özçelik, tweeted on Thursday, calling on international rights organizations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch monitor the developments.
İsmet Özçelik was initially detained and put in prison on Dec. 13, 2016 upon an alleged request by Turkish authorities in Malaysia.
Malay security personnel reportedly raided the house of academic İsmet Özçelik (59) on the grounds that his passport had been cancelled by Turkey over alleged involvement in a coup attempt on July 15.
“They [Malay authorities] were in plain clothes. They said they were given authority to deport him [Özçelik] to Turkey,” Özçelik’s son told Turkey Purge in an e-mail.
“When we resisted, Malay police got involved and arrested my father on charges of obstructing civil servants in carrying out their duty. My father has been sent to Sungai Buloh Prison. Along with him, my elder brother, Süheyl Özçelik, another Turkish citizen, Erdem Eroğlu, and two other Malay citizens were arrested. However, they all were later released pending trial. The immigration office cancelled my father’s visa on Dec 14, thus preventing his release. He is in a prison, in very poor conditions. He is with 150 others; yet the prison’s capacity is only 50. If we cannot renew the visa, he is going to stay there for at least 12 months. He is a cardiac patient and has diabetes.”
Lawyers representing Özçelik are now seeking renewal of the visa in order to secure his release from prison for an offense for which he has yet to stand trial or be convicted of.Muhammad Faizal Faiz Hasani, one of his lawyers, recently spoke to Malay Mail Online regarding the issue. Faizal said the Magistrates Court here had denied Özçelik bail because the Immigration Department had
cancelled his visa just a day after his arrest on Dec. 13, 2016.
“Ismet needs to get DG Immigration to re-validate his visa and determine why Immigration cancelled it. If it was at the request of the Turkish Embassy, why and on what grounds.
“The magistrate may let us have his passport for a few days for renewal with Immigration if we so request; the magistrate will only release Ismet on bail after his visa is renewed,” he said when describing the court’s views on the matter.
“In the meantime, Ismet will deteriorate in prison without medication,” he added.
Turkey survived a military coup attempt on July 15 that killed over 240 people and wounded more than a thousand others. After the putsch, the government along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused the Gülen movement for the attempt.
The movement rejects any involvement.
The Turkish government, however, launched a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.
Turkish aid organization becomes direct target of AK Party
Kimse Yok Mu, a UN-affiliated aid organization based in Turkey and the only Turkish organization that has a large outreach presence in 113 countries, continues to be a direct target of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government due to the latter’s hatred of the faith-based Hizmet movement, which inspired the work of the organization.
PM Erdoğan’s arguments on prep schools contradict statistics, facts
PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said during a live TV interview on Wednesday night that his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) will not back down from its decision to close prep schools and listed his government’s arguments, many of which contradict official data, statistics and results of surveys carried out on the issue. According to surveys, 85 percent of the families who send their children to prep schools are low-income families.
Local, foreign participants debate Turkish democracy at Abant platform
22 June 2012 / YONCA POYRAZ DOĞAN, ABANT Even though Turkey has achieved great economic development in the past 10 years, it is still having trouble consolidating its democracy, according to both native and non-native participants of the 27th Abant Platform. In his introductory speech, Sabancı University’s Ersin Kalaycıoğlu said on Friday at the 27th […]
Gülen’s curse was misquoted, misinterpreted, GYV chief says
Mustafa Yeşil, chairman of the Journalists and Writers Foundation’s (GYV) executive board, in response to criticisms targeting prominent Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, said the curse uttered by Gülen did not have a direct reference and was poorly comprehended and highly manipulated by some who repeated it.
Kyrgyz President Atambayev: Turkish schools will not be closed
Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev said on Thursday he is thankful to Erdoğan, he does not know Fethullah Gülen, and he will not close the schools run by Turks close to the Gülen movement, Sputnik reported.
Texans experience Turkish culture by volunteering
After helping to distribute charity Kimse Yok Mu’s (Is Anybody There) Eid al-Adha care packages to families in Turkey, four Americans travelling across the country shared their satisfying experiences with local Turkish families.
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
