Alliance for Shared Values Statement on Detention of Turkish Nationals in Kosovo and Their Imminent Transfer to Turkey


Date posted: March 29, 2018

March 29, 2018 – The Alliance for Shared Values denounces the detention of six Turkish nationals in Kosovo on Thursday morning as a result of demands from the Turkish government. This is the latest incident in which the Recep Tayyip Erdogan regime has targeted innocent individuals solely based on affiliation with the Hizmet movement.

The Turkish nationals who were detained are Mustafa Erdem, Yusuf Karabina, Kahraman Demirez, Cihan Ozkan, Hasan Huseyin Gunakan, and Prof. Osman Karakaya. These individuals have legal residence or working permits in Kosovo but are detained for working at educational institutions targeted by the Turkish government. Media reports suggest that they are currently being held in Pristina airport and are risking illegal transfer to Turkey.

Kosovo had previously detained another Turkish national, Ugur Toksoy, but a Kosovar court suspended the extradition process due to lack of material evidence. We are deeply concerned for further detentions by the Kosovar police. The Turkish government is targeting other Hizmet movement participants abroad, and UN sources indicate that 200 more Hizmet participants in Kosovo are among those to be detained. The detainees risk extradition to Turkey, where any critic is persecuted and jailed with no justifiable indictment. International human rights organizations such as Amnesty International have reported on their inhumane treatment in Turkish prisons including ill-treatment, overcrowding, torture, and rape. Rule of law no longer exists in Turkey as the Erdogan regime goes to great lengths to repress any opposition through an ongoing systematic campaign to persecute thousands of innocent individuals including teachers, academics, and doctors.

We urge the Kosovo government to immediately halt these detentions of innocent people and prevent their extradition to Turkey, where they would face torture, ill-treatment and risk to their lives. We also urge the UNHCR and international institutions to take action against Erdogan’s extrajudicial efforts outside of Turkey.

 

Source: Alliance for Shared Values , March 29, 2018

Tags: | | | | | |


Related News

Turkish gov’t jailed not only journalist Karaca, but also his lawyers and the judges who ruled to release him

The trial of Turkish journalist Hidayet Karaca (55) has already taken its place in judicial history because not only has he been persecuted by the Turkish government but also both his lawyers and the judges who ruled to release him from jail have been imprisoned.

How can a government allow damaging their very own successful educational system to please another country?

Highly regarded for their educational excellence, these schools are located world-wide and have over 20 years offered the very best of competitive standards. How can any government allow damaging their very own successful educational system due to internal political turmoil of another country even if brotherly to Pakistan?

Local Turks [in Chicago] fear for safety of friends, family overseas after failed coup

“You see the pictures, ears cut off, eyes are bruised and noses are broken; they’re putting those pictures out,” Parlak said. “(Erdogan is) saying to the whole world, ‘I have the power and I’m going to do anything in my power and nobody can stop me,’ and that’s the part that is scary.”

EP kills parallel state lies

Nobody believes that the mass culling and reassignment of up to 10,000 public officials (most from the police department and the judiciary and many of whom are mid-level and senior personnel) so far by embattled Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has anything to do with what the government purports is a fight against a “parallel structure,” a veiled reference to members of the Hizmet movement inspired by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.

AKP official: Let sacked public servants eat tree roots

The Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) Isparta branch head, Osman Zabun, has said the civil servants who have recently been dismissed from state institutions over alleged links to the Gülen movement can go and “feed on tree roots” if they don’t want to starve to death.

Three ministers resign as one urges PM to step down amid corruption probe

Environment and Urban Planning Minister Erdoğan Bayraktar, in a harsh statement, claimed that he had been pressured to submit his own resignation to save the prestige of the government, adding that the prime minister should also quit as most of the amendments on construction plans mentioned in the corruption investigation were made on Erdoğan’s orders.

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

NTIC’s growing support help 13000 underprivileged children

Erdogan regime’s defamation of Hizmet at full throttle – UK-based academic denies recent allegations

Philippine education minister invites Turks to open more schools in his country

Students from around the globe spread the idea of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’

Dr. Lilian Sison: Fethullah Gülen is a pioneer of peace

Final Declaration of “Coexistence in Islamic Civilizations and Contemporary Reviews” Conference

Yes, Love Is a Verb!

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News