UN Concerned About Albanian Deportations of Turkish ‘Gulenists’

Alleged Gulenist Selami Simsek in Court in Tirana. Photo: LSA

Both men are alleged by Turkish authorities to be members of exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen's movement, which Ankara alleges is a terrorist organisation responsible for a failed coup plot in Turkey in 2016.

The letter from the UN officials, which was published on Tuesday in Albanian media but written on March 20, warned that Simsek's rights could be violated if he is sent to Turkey.

It says that Simsek "is likely to face detention, prosecution and, potentially, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, for his perceived or imputed affiliation to the Hizmet/Gulen movement".

Simsek was initially arrested at Tirana Airport and served time for using falsified travel documents. He was released from prison on March 9, but for reasons that remain unclear, police kept him for several hours in a civilian car before transferring him to a closed centre for illegal emigrants near Tirana.

His supporters claim that that several high-level government officials demanded that an immediate expulsion order be issued.

His laywer, Elton Hyseni, told BIRN on Tuesday that he has not yet received any official information about the case.

"We do not yet know whether his request for asylum has been accepted or not. [The authorities] havenot explained why they are keeping him in the closed migration centre," Hyseni said.

Albanian government spokesperson Endri Fuga did not reply to BIRN's request for a comment by the time of publication.

The letter from the five UN officials also questioned Albania's deportation of Celik to Turkey.

"We are equally concerned that Mr. Celik appears to have been expelled for his alleged connection to Hizmet/Gulen movement, reportedly...