{"id":185477,"date":"2017-07-10T19:04:47","date_gmt":"2017-07-10T19:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/article\/turkeys-fight-against-gulen-in-the-south-caucasus\/"},"modified":"2021-10-29T14:21:13","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T10:21:13","slug":"turkeys-fight-against-gulen-in-the-south-caucasus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/turkeys-fight-against-gulen-in-the-south-caucasus\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey’s Fight Against G\u00fclen in the South Caucasus"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n \"A
\n A group of AKP party supporters protest the attempted military coup against the Turkish government, allegedly supported by the cleric Fethullah G\u00fclen and his organisation. Saracahane Park, Istanbul, July 2016. Photo (c) Depo Photos\/ABACA\/PA Images. All ri
\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n This article was originally published on
\n
\n opendemocracy.net
\n <\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n ***\n<\/p>\n

\n The European Parliament
\n
\n has passed a resolution
\n <\/a>
\n expressing \u201cserious concern\u201d on the case of the Azerbaijani investigative journalist Afgan Mukhtarli, who was
\n
\n abducted from Tbilisi
\n <\/a>
\n \u00a0in late May, only to appear before a court in Azerbaijan\u2019s capital Baku some days later. But the spotlight has yet to fall on another case in Georgia: Mustafa Emre \u00c7abuk, a Turkish schoolteacher, still sits in Gldani prison in the Georgian capital, where an uncertain fate awaits him.\n<\/p>\n

\n Ankara has repeatedly accused \u00c7abuk of \u201csupporting terrorism\u201d in reference to his alleged links with the Hizmet movement associated with Fethullah G\u00fclen, the Turkish Muslim preacher and philanthropist based in the US. \u00c7abuk, who has lived in Georgia for 15 years, is now at imminent risk of extradition to Turkey where,
\n
\n judging by similar cases
\n <\/a>
\n , he is at risk of being tortured.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u00c7abuk first came to Georgia in 2002 to work as a physics teacher at the Refaiddin \u015eahin Friendship School in Batumi, which was
\n
\n shut down
\n <\/a>
\n earlier this year by Georgia\u2019s National Center for Education Quality Enhancement (NCEQE). The Georgian authorities\u2019 decision came shortly after Turkish officials criticised the G\u00fclen-run school, which teaches five to 12-year olds, calling it an institution \u201cserving a terrorist group.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n The abduction of Mukhtarli
\n
\n shattered Georgia\u2019s image as a safe haven for dissidents
\n <\/a>
\n from neighbouring countries, and prompted many Georgians to consider the extent of oil-rich Azerbaijan\u2019s political clout. With Turkey sliding ever further into authoritarianism, is there another headache on the horizon for the Georgian authorities?\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n The Price of a Good Education
\n <\/b>\n<\/p>\n

\n At the order of president Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan, Turkish officials and diplomats have made appeals worldwide calling on governments to close down G\u00fclen schools abroad. The Turkish government insists that this network of schools poses a national security threat, and has classified the G\u00fclen network as a terrorist group.\n<\/p>\n

\n FET\u00d6, as the Turkish government calls the G\u00fclen movement\u2019s \u201cterrorist network\u201d, is accused of plotting last year\u2019s failed coup on 15 July. Calling the events a \u201ca gift from God,\u201d Erdo\u011fan promised that those responsible would \u201cpay a heavy price.\u201d Those who feared the coup would provide a pretext to crack down on all dissident have been proved right. Not only G\u00fclen followers, but Turkish liberals, secular democrats and journalists have been arrested, with many more tortured in detention and fired from their jobs. Over the months following the coup, Turkey has arrested more than 40,000 people and sacked or suspended more than 100,000 in the military, civil service and private sector. Turkish nationals working in G\u00fclen-affiliated schools worldwide now fear repatriation and prefer either to apply for a political asylum in their host country or to try their luck in the EU or USA.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u00c7abuk has found himself in a similar situation. In 2007, he started work as director of the Niko Nikoladze High School in Kutaisi, western Georgia. From 2012 until 2016, \u00c7abuk served as deputy general director of all G\u00fclen schools in Georgia.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cUnder his watch, many students from our school were successful after having participated at different national and international scientific Olympiads,\u201d a teacher from the closed \u015eahin Friendship School recalls. The teacher, who wishes to remain anonymous over fears of retribution, underlines that the schools\u2019 quality of education improved directly after \u00c7abuk\u2019s appointment. The teacher simply couldn\u2019t believe how \u201can accomplished educator\u201d such as \u00c7abuk \u201cmight be labeled as a terrorist.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n On 24 May, the Georgian authorities launched an extradition procedure against \u00c7abuk at the official request of Turkey. According to information provided by the Turkish prosecutor, \u00c7abuk is wanted for committing a crime as defined by Article 314\/2 of Turkey\u2019s Criminal Code: membership of the FET\u00d6 terrorist organisation (recognised as such only by Turkey). Information obtained by openDemocracy shows that he, with the permission of the directors, wanted to sell 60% of shares of the Tbilisi-based Demirel private school to Metropolitan Education and Consultation Services, a company registered in the USA.\n<\/p>\n

\n The documentation that supposedly incriminates \u00c7abuk mostly describes the activities of the G\u00fclen movement in Turkey. It does not specify why either \u00c7abuk\u2019s role at the school or his deal with the American company on its behalf constitute a link to terrorist activities and organisations. \u201cPrecisely for these reasons, we believe that the charges are entirely unsubstantiated and politically motivated,\u201d concludes Tamta Mikeladze, civil and political rights program director at Tbilisi\u2019s Human Rights Education and Monitoring Centre.\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n Settling Scores
\n <\/b>\n<\/p>\n

\n \u00c7abuk was detained shortly after Turkish prime minister Binali Y\u0131ld\u0131r\u0131m
\n
\n paid a visit to Tbilisi
\n <\/a>
\n to meet his Georgian counterpart Giorgi Kvirikashvili in May.\n<\/p>\n

\n Georgia\u2019s Minister of Education Aleksandre Jejelava has
\n
\n publicly denied
\n <\/a>
\n any official request from the Turkish side to detain \u00c7abuk but instead says they are \u201cdoing their best to defend students from ideological pressure.\u201d During the press conference with Y\u0131ld\u0131r\u0131m, Prime Minister Kvirikashvili, recalling last year\u2019s failed coup in Turkey, was quoted by the pro-government daily Sabah as saying that, \u201cwe have to remove the main sources of terror here [in Georgia]. We have to fight with these sources in the wider region, then we must develop our economic and business partnerships.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n On 25 May, Tbilisi City Court sentenced \u00c7abuk to three months\u2019 imprisonment, pending extradition. \u201cHe\u2019s been in prison for more than a month, and the charge is both scary and ridiculous,” says \u00c7abuk\u2019s wife, Tu\u011fba, who adds she still has faith in Georgia\u2019s commitment to democracy. \u201cGeorgia is a country that is at the door of the democratic European Union rather than one where democracy has already seen its end.\u201d She has publicly called for the Georgian government not to bow to pressure from Ankara, and has herself r
\n
\n equested protection
\n <\/a>
\n from the Georgian authorities, fearing reprisals.\n<\/p>\n

\n The case of Mustafa \u00c7abuk, as well as those of journalists and activists from Azerbaijan, is yet another test for Georgia\u2019s commitment to democratic values. Mikeladze adds that due to political loyalty to neighbouring states, the Georgian government \u201crisks denying the protection of fundamental human rights to foreign citizens desperately in need of them, which in turn harms building a democratic state based on the same principles here at home.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n This kind of political bargaining is common between Turkey and South Caucasus states. After all, G\u00fclen schools were welcomed throughout the region from the early 1990s. With the fall of the Iron Curtain, Georgia became the first country that welcomed representatives of G\u00fclen\u2019s movement, though the Azerbaijani city of Nakhchivan was the first place outside Turkey to host a G\u00fclen-affiliated school. Until the purge, some 13 G\u00fclen-funded schools and the now nationalised Qafqaz University functioned in Azerbaijan. The movement\u2019s schools now operate in 160 countries worldwide.\n<\/p>\n

\n After Turkey\u2019s AKP government restored its power following last year\u2019s coup, Ankara initiated a purge against all G\u00fclen followers in the Caucasus and Central Asia. As a strongly authoritarian state and long-time ally of Turkey, Azerbaijan was only too eager to oblige \u2014 Baku\u2019s solution was to nationalise the schools. The
\n
\n attitude of the Central Asian republics
\n <\/a>
\n , with whom Turkey has maintained strong economic and political ties since their independence, was far from united. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan pushed back against the Turkish demand to pursue G\u00fclenists. Turkmenistan played ball, launching a massive crackdown against all followers of G\u00fclen in the country, while Uzbekistan never welcomed the Turkish schools in the first place. Tajikistan closed the last of its G\u00fclen schools in 2015, though that could be explained as part of a wider campaign against all Islamic groups in the country.\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n Pressure Points
\n <\/b>\n<\/p>\n

\n What power, exactly, does Ankara have over Georgia? As Giorgi Badridze, senior fellow at the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS) puts it, Turkey is one of Georgia\u2019s most important strategic partners. \u201cIn a world where our largest neighbour, Russia, puts us under constant military and economic pressure, Turkey plays a vital role both politically and economically. This doesn\u2019t mean that Georgia should disregard the rule of law for the sake of good relations, but if Turkey\u2019s official request is found to be lawful and within the framework of bilateral agreements, then it can\u2019t be ignored.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n It seems clear that Ankara has already put enormous pressure on Tbilisi to close G\u00fclenist schools and deport Turks working at them. Azerbaijani journalist Mahir Zeynalov, chief editor of the Globe Post who was deported from Turkey for a tweet critical of Erdo\u011fan in 2014, echoes Badridze\u2019s view. Zeynalov stresses that it\u2019s difficult for Georgia to ignore demands from Turkey, its largest friendly neighbour and the country\u2019s second largest trading partner after the EU. Turkish money has flowed into a series of infrastructure projects in Georgia, and is particularly influential in the western province of Ajara.\n<\/p>\n

\n The Georgian Young Lawyers\u2019 Association has monitored \u00c7abuk\u2019s case and believes that the court ruling for a provisional arrest falls short of the standards established under the Georgian legislation and the European Convention. The prosecutor declared that \u00c7abuk could otherwise flee the country and continue his \u201ccriminal activities\u201d, but did not give any grounds for these fears.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe court\u2019s decision is not well-founded,\u201d says Vakhtang Kvizhinadze, \u00c7abuk\u2019s lawyer, adding that his appeal against it was in vain. The decision was kept in force despite the fact that \u00c7abuk has lived in Georgia for years and has a residency permit. \u201cMustafa did not evade any of his obligations before the court,\u201d Kvizhinadze says.\n<\/p>\n

\n According to his wife, when the police came to arrest \u00c7abuk on the morning of 24 May, they informed him that the Georgian authorities had no problem with him, but that his arrest was requested by Turkey. \u201cWe didn\u2019t even go to Turkey for 17 months, but now my husband is blamed for terrorist activities and a coup attempt,\u201d sighs Tu\u011fba \u00c7abuk.\n<\/p>\n

\n Georgian legislation allows the courts to imprison somebody wanted by foreign law enforcement agencies, but only as a last resort and never as a punitive method. \u00c7abuk could have been released on bail after handing over his passport and a cash payment of bail of GEL 10,000 (\u00a33,248). When he tried, the court refused.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cUnless Mustafa can get refugee status or citizenship, then yes, he might be extradited,” underlines Kvizhinadze. \u201cFailing that, Tbilisi could always press Ankara to guarantee that \u00c7abuk\u2019s human rights will be respected in Turkey.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Sozar Subari, Georgia’s Minister for IDPs, accommodation and refugees, stated on 7 June that \u00c7abuk cannot immediately be deported to Turkey simply upon Ankara\u2019s say so, and that a number of documents would be required before extradition was possible. Meanwhile, Amnesty International has started a campaign in \u00c7abuk\u2019s defence.\n<\/p>\n

\n Under Article 28 of the Law of Georgia on International Cooperation in Criminal Matters, Georgia has the right to refuse an extradition if the crime concerned has been fully or partially committed on the country\u2019s territory, as was \u00c7abuk\u2019s alleged crime concerning the Demirel school. Article 35 of the Treaty between Georgia and Turkey on mutual legal assistance in civil, trade and criminal matters states much the same.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019m not sure how eager the Georgian government is to hand \u00c7abuk over to the Turkish authorities, particularly given how the Mukhtarli scandal damaged Georgia’s international reputation,\u201d says Badridze, who hopes that the court\u2019s final decision will be guided by legal considerations and not by politics.\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n D\u00e9j\u00e0 vu in Baku
\n <\/b>\n<\/p>\n

\n \u00c7abuk\u2019s colleague Taci \u015eent\u00fcrk, a manager at the Turkish Istek school in Baku, was detained on 7 June. Once he was able to call his family, \u015eent\u00fcrk told his spouse Fatma that he was to be sent to Turkey. He proposed that his family come to the airport to meet for the last time. \u201cThe policemen did not let my husband give one last kiss to our kids, nor could our lawyer meet him,” Fatma \u015eent\u00fcrk told me, adding that the only reason they were given was the sudden invalidation of Taci\u2019s passport. The \u015eent\u00fcrks\u2019 residency permit in Azerbaijan was due to expire on 7 September this year.\n<\/p>\n

\n There is no official information as to why Taci\u2019s passport was invalidated, despite his having the right of residency in Azerbaijan. The question must now be raised how Taci \u015eent\u00fcrk was supposed to have entered Turkey without a valid travel document.\n<\/p>\n

\n Just 20 minutes before takeoff, Fatma says, a representative of the UN office in Baku arrived and demanded that Taci \u015eent\u00fcrk be removed from the plane on the grounds that he and his family were now under the protection of UNHCR\u2019s Baku Office. But after \u015eent\u00fcrk was taken off the plane, the representative did not accompany him home. \u201cPolice were waiting for him at the airport terminal, and returned him to their organised crime department,\u201d adds Fatma. \u201cDespite my insistence that Taci might be sent to Turkey, the UN delegation couldn\u2019t do anything,\u201d says Fatma \u015eent\u00fcrk. Her husband was eventually sent to Turkey on 8 June. \u015eent\u00fcrk is now being interrogated in Turkey\u2019s directorate for combatting smuggling and organised crime in Konya.\n<\/p>\n

\n Fatma \u015eent\u00fcrk now wants to leave Azerbaijan as she no longer feels safe there. \u201cEven with the UN protection letter, our safety is not guaranteed,\u201d she adds. \u201cTaci always believed that the Azerbaijanis were our brothers and so would not betray us, but it happened. Even our Azerbaijani lawyer refused to take on the case, saying it was politically-motivated and so might endanger his security too.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n Independent lawyer Samed Rahimli, who will bring Taci \u015eent\u00fcrk\u2019s case to the European Court of Human Rights, says that \u015eent\u00fcrk\u2019s case is remarkable \u2014 he was extradited to Turkey without any legal procedure. \u201cUN protection was completely ignored by the Azerbaijani authorities,\u201d says Rahimli.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u015eent\u00fcrk is not the first Turkish national who was deported from Azerbaijan in this manner. On 6 June, Muharrem Menek\u015fe, a member of the G\u00fclen movement, was sent to Istanbul without any legal grounds. Menek\u015fe had lived in Baku since the early 1990s, where he ran a small business.\n<\/p>\n

\n Rahimli adds that there was no official charge or formal process from the Turkish authorities in either case: \u201cAnkara just gave the order, and Azerbaijan executed it.\u201d A similar fate befell the Azerbaijani opposition journalist Rauf Mirgadirov, who was deported to Azerbaijan from Turkey, where he lived and worked, in 2014.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cErdogan and Aliyev have long rode roughshod over the laws because of their own interests,\u201d says Ulvi Hasanli, a board member of the N!DA youth movement. \u201cThere may be other cases of which we are unaware.\u201d That Ankara and Baku are so prepared to trade favours shows a convergence of regime interests rather than strictly national ones. But it was not always so. Erdo\u011fan\u2019s deteriorating international image as well as his vow to getting rid of his archenemy G\u00fclen has made Azerbaijan and Turkey even closer allies in fighting dissent.\n<\/p>\n

\n In Azerbaijan, few people appear to care about Taci \u015eent\u00fcrk\u2019s fate. When I approached Baku residents, almost none of them knew of Taci \u015eent\u00fcrk. Most were surprised to hear about the deportation of a Turkish national; as Azerbaijanis and Turks share many cultural ties, mistreating a Turkish citizen could be considered shameful by Azerbaijanis.\n<\/p>\n

\n The ruling on whether \u00c7abuk will receive political asylum in Georgia will be made on Friday \u2014 the extradition process has been put on hold while his asylum application is being considered. The ultimate decision on whether he will be deported to Turkey to face (in)justice will be made in a final trial to be held after 24 August, after his three months\u2019 detention comes to an end.\n<\/p>\n

\n Between 2007 and 2016, Ankara made almost 399 extradition requests to western European countries, though only 11 have been granted (including nine by EU Member States). These include requests for the extradition of 59 participants in the coup attempt of 15 July. Germany has refused to expel 22 individuals linked with G\u00fclen. In Greece, civil society protest over Turkey\u2019s extradition bid request led to a Supreme Court ruling against it.\n<\/p>\n

\n Wealthy and influential western European countries can afford to reject extradition requests made by the Turkish government. But Azerbaijan and Georgia probably cannot. Neither wants to harm their relationship with Turkey, which is an important corridor to the west and regional counterbalance against Russia. Ankara\u2019s hunt for G\u00fclen may prove a test of how the two states can defend their sovereignty. That is, if they\u2019re interested.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Turkish authorities\u2019 fight against real and imagined enemies in the G\u00fclen movement has now reached Azerbaijan and Georgia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":88674,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-185477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","infinite-scroll-item","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTurkey's Fight Against G\u00fclen in the South Caucasus - MEYDAN.TV<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.meydan.tv\/en\/article\/turkeys-fight-against-gulen-in-the-south-caucasus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Turkey's Fight Against G\u00fclen in the South Caucasus - 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