November 11, 2017

Report: Two Turkish nationals, abducted from plane in Kazakhstan, returned to Turkey

Enver Kılıç and Zabit Kişi, the two Turkish nationals who were abducted from a plane in Kazakhstan in mid-September turn out to have been forcedly returned to Turkey and taken into custody, according to media. Aktif Haber online news portal said on November 9 that the two are being held under custody in Turkey.

The minutes of a recent court hearing in Kocaeli province showed that Kılıç and Kişi were brought back from Kazakhstan to Turkey, Aktif Haber said.

In a video recording on October 16, 2017, Birsen Kılıç said her husband disappeared while flying from Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan. Three days later, Zabit’s wife also showed up in a separate video recording and said her husband was abducted from a plane by a group of unknown people in the Kazak city of Almaty.

People familiar with the incident said on social media that the two were kidnapped together over their alleged links to the Gülen movement, which the Turkish government accuses of masterminding the July 15, 2016 coup attempt. The movement denies involvement however Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has already called on foreign governments to punish the followers of the Gülen movement in their own countries.

A small group of countries including Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Georgia, Pakistan, Indonesia and Myanmar have so far handed over academics, businessmen and school principals upon the Turkish government’s request even though some of those victims had refugee status with the UN.

In the latest of such incidents, Pakistan’s anti-terror police violently detained Mesut Kaçmaz, a former principal of the Gulen-linked Pak-Turk schools along with his family, and deport them them to Turkey.

On some occasions, Turkish operatives were also involved in forced return of the alleged members of the Gülen movement.

Published on Turkey Purge, 11 November 2017, Saturday