Were these people put on trial? Were they tortured? Are they already sentenced? Are there other Turkish citizens in Europe who may be currently facing similar deportations?
Turkey has been actively pursuing dissidents around the world, including in European countries. In 2016, Bulgaria extradited to Turkey eight supporters of Fethullah Gülen, the Muslim cleric accused by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of trying to bring down his government. Many other Turkish citizens are currently in Bulgaria claiming asylum. In the beginning of September 2018, Moldova extradited six Turks to Ankara. The country security forces worked in close cooperation with Erdogan's secret services to make the arrests possible. The same type of cooperation was also used in the case of Kosovo, which led to the deportation of six citizens of Turkey in March 2018. Serbia sent to Ankara one Kurdish opponent of the Turkish leader in December 2017, despite the criticism of the United Nations. There are also at least two deportations from Ukraine. These are the confirmed cases, it is possible there are more.
The Turkish political dissidents in Europe claim they fear for their safety and are in danger of clandestine Turkish operations or attacks on EU territory. There is a viable possibility that the renditions of Turkish citizens from Europe and European Union might not have ended. Many people in the Turkish communities in Europe live in fear of political repression, persecution, and state-sponsored abductions.
A cross-border team consisting of four professional journalists also investigates the fate of Turkish political dissidents in their home country. It reviews the deportations of political exiles from Europe to Turkey which started in 2016.
For security reasons one other journalist wants to remain anonymous, but he/she is known to our organisation.
