LONDON: Turkish state abductions are the focus of a major investigation by some of the biggest names in European media.
Germany-based Correctiv, a not-for-proft newsroom, worked alongside a team of nine media organizations from eight countries to reveal how the regime of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is kidnapping dozens of members of the country’s Gulen political movement from around the world.
Such overseas abductions have historical precedent in the country — dating back two decades to the capture of Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan in Nairobi in 1999.
Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party politician Leyla Guven began a hunger strike in November in an attempt to highlight Ocalan’s years of isolation spent in an island prison. Almost 3,000 people in about 90 prisons joined the hunger strike protest which ended this weekend.
But 20 years on from Ocalan’s abduction, Turkey has stepped up its black operations abroad. Some of the victims of these actions gave graphic and disturbing accounts of their detention to a team of journalists coordinated by Correctiv.
The investigation draws comparisons to the notorious “extraordinary renditions” of the CIA that came to light in the years following the 9/11 terror attacks in the US.
It reveals how the Turkish regime is kidnapping dozens of members of the outlawed Gulen movement from around the world.
The report lists alleged abductions that have taken place in the past two years in Gabon, Sudan, the Republic of Moldova, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Malaysia, Switzerland and Mongolia.
“The list of countries in which Turkish nationals connected with the opposition Gulen movement have been abducted and forcibly returned to Turkey without the tedious need for lengthy extradition proceedings has become something that has the makings of an international scandal,” Correctiv reported.
While the abduction of Turkish dissidents abroad has been public since Abdullah Ocalan was snatched by Turkish special forces in Nairobi in 1999, the practice is attracting increased attention since the failed July 2016 coup, when Erdogan pledged that members of the Gulen movement would be brought back to the country to face “justice.”
The non-profit newsroom also reported on the existence of secret torture sites within Turkey.
Ankara has in the past denied accusations of torture and did not comment in the Correctiv report.
The Stockholm Center for Freedom, founded by Turkish journalists, found about 20 cases of Gulenists who have disappeared without trace inside Turkey.
Turkish human rights association IHD also knows of about 15 cases — often conducted in broad daylight and using a black van.
