Founder of Gülen-backed schools in Kyrgyzstan ‘has gone missing’
THE Turkish-born founder of a network of prestigious schools in Kyrgyzstan has gone missing, prompting his supporters to suspect he may have been kidnapped by Turkey’s security services.
Police in Bishkek reported on Tuesday that a car belonging to Orhan İnandı, who gained Kyrgyz citizenship in 2012, was discovered with its doors open in the courtyard of a high-rise residential complex.
Mr İnandı’s son, who filed a missing persons report, said that the last time he had heard from his father was at 6pm on May 31.
The Kyrgyzstan Interior Ministry said it has formed an investigative group to establish İnandı’s whereabouts.
Some suspect the Turkish authorities, who have for several years embarked on a sustained campaign to repatriate and arrest members of the Gülenist movement, of being involved in the disappearance.
Several dozen demonstrators rallied outside the Turkish Embassy in Bishkek. A group of former pupils of schools operating under the Sapat educational network founded by Mr İnandı held a picket at the city’s Manas International Airport.
The motivation for the latter gathering appears linked to speculation that a Turkish jet said to be parked at the airport might have been intended to spirit Mr İnandı out of the country. A spokeswoman for the airport ruled out this scenario, but stated that the plane in question had flown into Kyrgyzstan on April 1 and has not left since.
“The aircraft was being used to perform a training flight, running a test for trainee crew,” she wrote on Facebook.
Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov’s office appeared at pains to dispel the impression the Kyrgyz government could be involved in any illegal deportation process.
In a brief statement, Mr Japarov’s office said he had ordered the State Committee for National Security (GKNB), and the Interior Ministry to step up their search for Mr İnandı.
A legal representative of Mr İnandi, Zootbek Kudaibergenov, said at a hastily summoned press conference that he had received what he described as “unconfirmed information” that Mr İnandı had been kidnapped and was being held somewhere in Bishkek. He did not state explicitly whom he believed to be responsible for the alleged abduction.
The GKNB, meanwhile, have claimed that they had warned Mr İnandı in 2019 that he was being targeted for potential kidnapping for ransom by an organised crime group.
The Gülen-founded schools in Kyrgyzstan have turned out many thousands of pupils over the years and are widely recognised as offering a high standard of education.
They have strong support among sections of the Kyrgyz elite, much to the disappointment of Ankara
Mr İnandı has lived and worked in Kyrgyzstan since the mid-1990s, and has proven a particularly lively advocate for his Sapat organisation and is a wellknown figure in the Kyrgyz education system and in business circles.
According to Sapat’s own website, the organisation has created 16 lyceums, the Ala-Too International University, an international school and four primary schools. More than 10,000 children and young people are currently studying at the Sapat institutions.