• About Us
  • Contact
  • Donate

Stockholm Center for Freedom

  • Home page
  • News & Analysis
  • Press Freedom
  • Hate Speech
  • Torture
  • Radicalism
  • Rule of Law
  • Abroad
  • Reports

Kosovo under Turkish gov’t pressure detains 5 Turkish educators over alleged links to Gülen movement

SCF 29 Mar 2018 Abroad, News, Radicalism, Rule of Law, Top Story, Torture

Kosovo police detained five Turkish educators who are employees of the Mehmet Akif schools in Kosovo and an academic early Thursday morning over alleged links to the Gülen movement due to pressure exerted by the Turkish government led by autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

According to a report by Pristina Insight, the Kosovo police detained three Turkish teachers in Gjakova and two Turkish teachers in Prizren.

According to information obtained by the Stockholm Center for Freedom (SCF) from Kosovo, Yusuf Karabina, the vice director of the Gülistan Educational Institutions, his wife Yasemin Karabina and 15-year-old son were stopped by Kosovo police at 8:30 on Thursday. The Karabina family reportedly resisted the plainclothes police officers since they thought that they could be the agents of the notorious Turkish National Intelligence Organisation (MİT). As a result the three members of the Karabina family were reportedly beaten by Kosovo police during their detention.

As Yusuf Karabina was being taken to the police station, Kahraman Demirez, the principal of Mehmet Akif College in Gjakova, and teachers Cihan Özkan and Hasan Hüseyin Günakan were also detained by the Kosovo police. Mustafa Erdem, the general director of the Gülistan Educational Institutions, was taken into custody when he visited the police station to obtain information about the situation of the detained Turkish teachers.

Prof. Dr. Osman Karakaya

It was also learned that Turkish cardiology professor Osman Karakaya, who moved to Kosovo to escape the persecution of the Erdoğan regime in Turkey, was also detained by Kosovo police on Thursday morning.

The Turkish government claims the Gülistan Educational Institutions, which operate four Mehmet Akif elementary and high schools in Kosovo, are affiliated with the Gülen movement.

Months ago, Kosovo police arrested Uğur Toksoy, an educator with alleged links to the Gülen movement. Kosovo did not extradite Toksoy to Turkey, but the ordeal still sent shock waves throughout Kosovo’s Turkish community, some of whom told the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) that they fled to Kosovo hoping to escape the Turkish government’s crackdown on the press and individuals and groups with ties to the movement.

The Gülistan Educational Institution confirmed that the detainees are General Director Mustafa Erdem, Vice Director Yusuf Karabina, principal of the school in Gjakova Kahraman Demirez and Gjakova teachers Cihan Özkan and Hasan Hüseyin Günakan.

According to a report by Pristina Insight, school officials said in a press release that they do not currently know the location of the detainees or the reason for their detention. Nazmi Ulus, director of the Mehmet Akif College in Lipjan, said all of the detainees have residence permits valid until 2022.

“We cannot get the exact information from the police, but what we suspect as a reason is Turkey’s pressure on all Balkan countries,” Ulus said.

Kosovo police spokesman Baki Kelani declined to provide further details but confirmed that “police are undertaking an operation.”

Some Balkan countries have faced pressure from the Erdoğan regime to close private schools linked to the Gülen movement. But Kosovo, whose population is mainly Muslim, had said it had no plans to close down the schools affiliated with the movement.

Turkey is a major supporter of impoverished Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008, and Turkish firms run the tiny Balkan country’s sole airport and electricity network and are building two highways worth around $2 billion.

At its peak, the Gülen movement operated schools in 170 countries, from Afghanistan to the United States. Since the repressive Erdoğan regime in Turkey declared the movement a “terrorist organization” two years ago, it has pressured allies to shut down the establishments run by the Gülen movement.

Previously Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Georgia, Pakistan, Sudan and Myanmar handed over academics, businessmen and school principals due to their alleged Gülen movement affiliations upon the Turkish government’s request despite the fact that some of those victims already had refugee status with the UN. The move drew harsh criticism from human rights organisations.

Turkey survived a controversial military coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that killed 249 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.

Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.

Turkey has suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, teachers, police and other civil servants since July 2016. Turkey’s interior minister announced on December 12, 2017 that 55,665 people have been arrested. On December 13, the Justice Ministry announced that 169,013 people have been the subject of legal proceedings on coup charges since the failed coup.

A total of 48,305 people were arrested by courts across Turkey in 2017 over their alleged links to the Gülen movement, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said on Dec. 2, 2017. “The number of detentions is nearly three times higher,” Soylu told a security meeting in İstanbul and claimed that “even these figures are not enough to reveal the severity of the issue.”

Take a second to support SCF on Patreon!

Related

Share on Facebook Share
Share on TwitterTweet
Share on Google Plus Share
Share on Pinterest Share
Share on LinkedIn Share
Send email Mail
Print Print
abroad AK Party AKP arrest Cihan Özkan court democracy Erdogan Gjakova Gülen Movement Gülistan Educational Institution Hasan Hüseyin Günakan Hizmet Movement human rights jail Justice Kahraman Demirez Kosovo law Mehmet Akif Ersoy College Mustafa Erdem Nazmi Ulus oppression prison purge report rule of law SCF Turkey witch hunt Yusuf Karabina 2018-03-29
SCF
Tags abroad AK Party AKP arrest Cihan Özkan court democracy Erdogan Gjakova Gülen Movement Gülistan Educational Institution Hasan Hüseyin Günakan Hizmet Movement human rights jail Justice Kahraman Demirez Kosovo law Mehmet Akif Ersoy College Mustafa Erdem Nazmi Ulus oppression prison purge report rule of law SCF Turkey witch hunt Yusuf Karabina

Authors

Posted by : SCF
Previous Article :

Leyla İmret, a dismissed pro-Kurdish mayor in Turkey, gives speech at CoE

Next Article :

Turkey’s Erdoğan once again sues CHP leader Kılıçdaroğlu for TL 250,000 in non-pecuniary damages

Related Articles

AKP deputy warns colleagues not to greet Gülen followers at Eid, says report them to police

AKP deputy warns colleagues not to greet Gülen followers at Eid, says report them to police

SCF 31 Aug 2017
Ex-advisor of Turkey’s former first lady arrested over alleged Gülen links

Ex-advisor of Turkey’s former first lady arrested over alleged Gülen links

SCF 15 Jun 2017

Lists

Lists

Videos

EDITOR’S CHOICE

  • Jailed Turkish journalist Mustafa Ünal: My scream for justice has faded away in a bottomless pit

    Jailed Turkish journalist Mustafa Ünal: My scream for justice has faded away in a bottomless pit

    SCF 10 Apr 2018
  • Afghans collect 1 million signatures to prevent seizure of Turkish schools by Erdoğan regime

    Afghans collect 1 million signatures to prevent seizure of Turkish schools by Erdoğan regime

    SCF 09 Apr 2018
  • Turkey tries to snatch Gülen supporters in Gabon

    Turkey tries to snatch Gülen supporters in Gabon

    SCF 03 Apr 2018
  • COMMENTARY — CPJ downplays the number of jailed journalists in Turkey

    COMMENTARY — CPJ downplays the number of jailed journalists in Turkey

    SCF 26 Mar 2018
  • Jailed Turkish academic Laçiner: I got used to lynching, at least accusations should make sense

    Jailed Turkish academic Laçiner: I got used to lynching, at least accusations should make sense

    SCF 25 Mar 2018

Twitter

Turkish security guards beat students protesting gov't bill to divide Gazi University https://t.co/AzwmfVXzbT
h J R
StockholmCF

- April 27, 2018

Teacher Gürer dies due to reappearance of cancer in Turkish prison where he was held over Gülen links https://t.co/Wl4gxMjQli
h J R
StockholmCF

- April 27, 2018

198 journalists arrested, 141 journalists wanted, 59 journalists convicted by Erdoğan regime in Turkey. Please see… https://t.co/iqQyaT7Mgl
h J R
StockholmCF

- April 27, 2018

Turkish police detain ÖDP's Onur Kılıç, others over critical social media posts https://t.co/V6YHhs4Sqh
h J R
StockholmCF

- April 27, 2018

COMMENTARY -- Turkey’s Erdoğan found his mirror image in Venezuela’s Maduro https://t.co/JNPMtvEnhW
h J R
StockholmCF

- April 27, 2018

Follow StockholmCF

Facebook

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Donate
© Copyright 2017, All Rights Reserved / Stockholm Center for Freedom
info@stockholmcf.org