Disturbing reports emerged yesterday evening that two Turkish nationals, Turgay Karaman, and Ihsan Aslan, were kidnapped in Kuala Lumpur. Today a tweet from Bukit Aman Inspector-General Khalid Abu Bakar clarified that the men were not kidnapped, but arrested for reasons of national security. Police have yet to elaborate which threats Karaman, an international school principal in Ipoh, and Aslan, a businessman, posed.
The sudden disappearance of the two men came to light after the blog Turkish Minute raised concerns that the men had not attended scheduled meetings later that day. The blog reported that a police report had been filed after CCTV footage emerged of Karaman being led in a parking lot away from his own car, by 5 men. This occurred in the upmarket Damansara Heights neighbourhood, at Menara E & C. He has not been heard from since. His wife has released a video statement, “calling on the Malaysian government to help as he is a gentleman and never hurt anyone,” she said. She added that the couple have been staying in Malaysia legally over the past 13 years and that her husband has not been involved in any crime.
Information regarding Aslan’s disappearance is still sparse.
Members of the Turkish community abroad are nervously watching the next steps, as this would not be the first case of Malaysia detaining wanted dissidents, and repatriating them to Turkey. Karaman’s police report specifically states that his friends worry for his safety should he be returned to Turkey, where he will surely “be tortured, and killed.”
Last October, 2 Turkish citizens were abducted by Turkish intelligence officers in Malaysia. These gentlemen soon found themselves in the hands of Malaysian authorities, who subsequently extradited them back, after a request from Ankara. On 13 December, a visiting university director was arrested upon arrival, after Turkish authorities informed Malaysian immigration that his passport had been cancelled. He too was sent back to the hands of Erdogan’s government. And this January the abduction and imprisonment of Izmet Ozcelik was reported in the Huffington Post. His last known whereabouts was a cell in Sungai Buloh prison, and the charges equally ambiguous.
Turkish president Reccep Tayip Erdogan has recently passed a referendum to grant him overriding powers over Turkish politics, in what many are calling the stifling of free speech. This week, Wikipedia access to the country was also halted. Last year during opposition leader arrests, Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp were also blocked.
According to Turkish Minute, the Turkish embassy in Kuala Lumpur had asked Malaysian authorities to close down schools and other entities which are run by Turkish citizens linked to the Gülen Movement. The movement is named after exiled leader, preacher Fethullah Gülen. Besides being accused of being a secretive Islamic sect with a “cultish hierarchy”, he’s also said to dabbled in matters of “global, apocalyptic ambition”.
Pretty impressive for a 74-year old, exiled to Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, population: 1,126.
Kidnapping CCTV below:
