Purged from Turkish army, Nato officers get asylum in Norway
stavanger — Norway and Turkey — Nato’s northern and southern frontiers in Europe — have been pillars of the Western military alliance for more than 60 years. But the diplomatic temperature between the two has fallen steadily since Turkey recalled dozens of military officers as suspects in an aborted coup — and Norway became the first nation to grant some of them asylum.
The government in Oslo agreed last month to protect four Turkish officers who had been assigned to Nato and, like colleagues in Germany and Brussels, fear they could be imprisoned as terrorists if they go rback to their country.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Norwegian ambassador for an explanation while the officers remain in Stavanger, a city on Norway’s west coast that lies 3,800 kilometres from Ankara.
“We see that this is a difficult decision for Norway because of the alliance, and it can cause big problems for Nato, so we appreciate that they have put human rights over political decisions,” one of the officers given asylum said. “Norway still says you are innocent until proven guilty ... in Turkey, you have to prove your innocence.”
The men trying to forge new lives in Stavanger are among a cadre of commissioned officers working at Nato facilities around Europe during the July 15 thwarted coup that the Turkish government suspects them of playing roles in.
They have asked not to be named for fear of reprisals against their families in Turkey. “Some of my colleagues in other Nato headquarters did return to Turkey. They were detained at the airport in front of their families, their children. It would be very difficult to go back to Turkey now,” one senior officer said. “We have small kids, and we have to save their lives.”
The former officers bristle at being branded “traitors”.
Each man was on leave when the plot unfolded and claims he has a firm alibi. With their bank accounts frozen, their successful military careers suddenly cut short and hopes for fair trials in Turkey shattered, they say they had no choice but to seek asylum in Norway, where they filed for protection between August 13 and October 19.
One of the men was fired by telephone. Another received a call ordering him to leave Norway within three days. Two watched in horror as their names appeared on “blacklists” of soldiers commanded back to Turkey.
“When I saw the list and my name in the list, I tried to understand the reason ... but there was nothing about this on the paper. There were just one or two or three sentences calling us back,” one said. —