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


Related News

Deepening crisis

As the Turkish government clamps down on protesters and attempts to hinder the corruption probe, Turkey is plunging deeper into a crisis that threatens to have a lasting impact on its society and economy.
The corruption case is the main story. With every move made to protect those in its immediate circle, the government is stepping away from the rule of law and undermining its reputation further.

PM’s discourse over ‘no family, children’ offensive, hurtful

On Feb. 23, Prime Minister Erdoğan targeted Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chairman Devlet Bahçeli due to his criticism of the government in the ongoing corruption investigation, saying: “He does not have any concept of family. He has no such concern. We know what children mean,” in an obvious reference to Bahçeli’s unmarried status.

PM Erdoğan increases intensity of hate speech against Hizmet movement

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has increased the intensity of his hate speech against the Hizmet movement, which is inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, calling on people not to attend the movement’s schools or exam preparatory courses and not to buy newspapers close to the movement.

AK Party Deputy Chairman Huseyin Celik: Turkish teachers beat the odds

ALİHAN HASANOĞLU Justice and Development Party Spokesman and Deputy Chairman Huseyin Celik said the teachers of the Turkish schools operating in Northern Iraq beat the odds in the region. Following his official contacts in Erbil, Celik moved on to Sulaymaniyah where he attended the opening ceremony of Private Sulaymaniyah Primary School. In company with Celik, […]

Smear campaign against Gülen fails after new details emerge on eavesdropping

The defamation campaign against the Gülen or Hizmet movement, which the Turkish president and his political Islamist Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government accuse of illegally wiretapping government officials, collapsed after it became clear that foreign security and intelligence agencies were involved in eavesdropping on senior Turkish officials.

Shining Turkish schools cement Iraq’s social unity

Children from a variety of ethnicities and religious groups attend these schools and sit side by side, scattered all across Iraq. Sunni, Shiite, Christian, Assyrian and Yazidi students study together in the classroom and play together in the schoolyard.

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

Bosnian court denies Turkish extradition request for alleged Gülen follower

Islam-state-society relationship: the Turkish model

Dr. Ergil answers 100 questions about Fethullah Gülen and his movement

Fethullah Gulen: From Izmir to the Global Hizmet Movement

Mali Minister pledges to maintain good relations with Kimse Yok Mu

Russian scholar: Gülen promotes peaceful education for a world mired in conflict

Kimse Yok Mu did not forget Bangladeshis in Eid al-Adha

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News