Turks abroad fear abduction

TURKS in South Africa fear some of their countrymen could be abducted and sent to jails in their country.

The spectre of illegal abduction hovers over the Turks as their government is out to clamp down on the Gülen movement, which it accuses of attempting a coup d’etat two years ago.

Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozda revealed earlier this month that the National Intelligence Organisation had abducted 80 of the country’s nationals from 18 countries over their alleged links to the Gülen movement.

Last month, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan went public about the abduction of six Turkish nationals in Kosovo.

“Our National Intelligence Organisation, in co-operation with Kosovo’s intelligence agency, got six high-level members of Feto (a derogatory term to describe the movement) in the Balkans and handed them over to our police,” Erdogan was quoted as saying.

“Wherever they are, we will pack them up and bring them [to Turkey], God willing,” he added.

This has sent shivers down the spine of Turkish nationals living across South Africa, most of whom are affiliated to the movement.

Started in 1960 by Fethullah Gulen, currently exiled in the US, Gülen describes himself as a humanist and pacifist with a philosophical movement. The movement has a network of NGOS, schools and businesses.

Three of its members were interviewed at the Nizamiye mosque in Midrand on Friday.

Two of them, one working for the Universal Rights Association and another for the Horizon Education Trust, asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals.

Turkmen Terzi, a journalist, said he spoke out without fear because he was already marked by the regime.

“Most of us in South Africa work with the movement.

“We are scared of going to Turkey and worried about our family there,” he said.