
The 12-year-old T.K. has claimed asylum with the United Nations (UN) office in Saudi Arabia alone after his/her father was detained by Saudi officials as part of what many say President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ever-growing witch-hunt against the Gulen movement that has spread to overseas in the recent past.

The recent politically motivated kidnapping incidents backed by the Turkish authorities which targeted the followers of Gulen movement in Malaysia raise serious questions about the standards of the rule of law, civil liberties, the individual rights and quality of the political system of Malaysia.

A Supreme Court of Appeals member until he was dismissed, Mustafa Erdogan has been kept in a holding cell at a private hospital since Dec. 30, 2016. His daughter Buket Erdogan said the top judge was denied right to “trial without arrest” although he was paralysed after a surgery on his brain.

Karaman, who was the principle of a prestigious international school that promotes critical thinking as well as holding his post with the Malaysian-Turkish Dialogue Society, does not fit the stereotypical profile of an Isis operative.

A school principal and a businessman have disappeared in the latest in a string of international arrests allegedly ordered by Turkey in a post-coup crackdown that has seen more than 100,000 people detained. Human rights group warns pair could be tortured if they are extradited back to Turkey.

“I have no family to look after me here, and an arrest warrant has been issued for me in Turkey. All three of my business partners and the CEO of my company have been jailed in Turkey. I lead the life of a fugitive,” he says. Salman is wary of providing details about himself or his family, and refuses to be photographed. “My wife and daughter are still there, I don’t want to put them in trouble,” he says.

There has been no evidence of any terrorist activity by the followers of Gulen in any part of the world including Turkey. In India, they have been running their institutions: schools, coaching Institutes, and dormitories for more than 15 years, but none has been accused of any kind of terrorism and crime.