Sufis

A Romanian judge on Wednesday rejected a Turkish request for the country to extradite a 24-year-old teacher arrested by police and sought by the authorities in Ankara.

Busra Zeynep Zen, an English teacher affiliated to the movement of the exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, appeared before the appeal court judge soon after her detention.

The Justice Minister of Montenegro must decide whether to extradite an alleged supporter of the exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulenist to Turkey, after the Appeal Court in Podgorica on Monday rejected his appeal against the earlier ruling of a local court.

Two Turkish citizens controversially deported from Kosovo to Turkey last year have received heavy jail sentences in their home country.

On Wednesday, the Istanbul serious crimes court imprisoned Osman Karakaya and Cihan Ozkan for seven years and six months each for "participating in an armed terrorist organisation". It acquitted the two men of charges of "international espionage".

If it was once rare for Turks to seek asylum in the countries of the Balkans, since mid-2016 it has become a regular occurrence, according to an investigation by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network.

Erdogan reportedly believes they are followers of exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose movement the Turkish government blames for the failed coup in the country in 2016 and describes as a 'terrorist group'.

Since the failed coup, the Turkish authorities have detained thousands of suspected 'Gulenists' and put pressure on governments abroad to extradite suspects.

Turkish Presidential Communications Director on Sept. 22 said that Fetullah Gulen's cult uses American taxpayers' money and therefore his cult is not only Turkey's problem but Americans' as well.

The moment when Turkey received the Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile system, designed primarily to shoot down NATO planes, carries immense geopolitical significance, and as such it deserves closer inspection. Careful examination reveals a number of moves intended to send a message.

A Turkish court on Friday jailed an employee of the Orizont private high school chain in Moldova, Yasin Ozdil - who was handed over to Turkey in 2018 in a joint secret service operation - for 12 years.

Ozdil formerly headed the public relations department for a branch of the school chain in the Durlesti area, near the Moldovan capital, Chisinau.

Turkey on June 11 reiterated its demand for the extradition of Fetullah Gülen, the leader of the FETÖ.   

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan celebrated the 556th anniversary of the fall of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) to Ottoman Turk forces on May 29 in 1453.