UN slams Thailand, Myanmar over deportation of Turk


Date posted: May 27, 2017

The United Nations expressed grave concern on Saturday over the deportation by Myanmar and Thailand of a Turkish national over alleged connections to a July 2016 coup attempt against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The UN Human Rights office said the deportation to Turkey of Muhammet Furkan Sokmen, a former employee of an international school in Yangon, was one of an increasing number of cases of Turkish nationals singled out by Turkish authorities over suspected links to the US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Ankara maintains that Gulen’s network of followers in the military staged the abortive coup, during which more than 240 people were killed. Gulen has repeatedly denied the claims.

Muhammet was reportedly arrested at Yangon airport on Wednesday, the UN said in a statement. He was sent to Thailand where he was held at an immigration detention centre before being deported to Turkey on Friday.

Colonel Myo Thu Soe, a spokesman for Myanmar police headquarters in Nay Pyi Daw, told Reuters that an official from the Turkish embassy had given him a certificate of identification and Muhammet was put on a Myanmar Airways plane to Bangkok, while his wife and daughter remained in Yangon.

Reuters was unable to contact Muhammet on his mobile phone.

“UN Human Rights for Southeast Asia expressed grave concern over the deportation by Myanmar — via Thailand — of Turkish national Muhammet Furkan Sokmen, and strongly urged authorities not to deport those deemed at risk upon their return to Turkey,” the UN said in a statement.

“We reiterate our call to all governments, including in this latest case the Thai and Myanmar governments, to put in place an effective system of review before deportation occurs,” said Laurent Meillan, acting regional representative of the UN Human Rights office for Southeast Asia.

Muhammet is at least the sixth person to be deported from Southeast Asia over alleged connections to Gulen’s movement, the UN said.

Source: Banhkok Post , May 27, 2017

Tags: | | | | |


Related News

TUSKON says 2 businessmen threatened members with ‘blacklisting’

Two Turkish businessmen from the Central Anatolian city of Konya have threatened a business confederation by telling it to “cut ties” with Turkey’s largest volunteer-based grassroots movement, the Hizmet movement, or be placed on a government blacklist of entrepreneurs affiliated with the movement, the head of the business confederation has said.

SCF Reveals Mass Torture And Abuse In An Unofficial Detention Facility In Turkey’s Capital

“I heard all kinds of curse and swearing against my family during the interrogation. They threatened me with raping my family members. I saw one man who had a black eye on his eyes. I witnessed another man as having difficulty in walking because police shoved a baton into his anus. So many victims have marks in their bodies from abuse and torture.”

Woman detained during visit to imprisoned husband on Valentine’s Day

İ.A.O. was detained when she stopped by the Trabzon prison on Valentine’s Day in a bid to visit her husband H.O., who had been earlier jailed as part of the government’s post-coup witch hunt. The couple’s 6-year-old son, Y.O. was left under his relatives’ care and İ.A.O was ultimately arrested by a court ruling.

GYV president Usak passes away in exile

A renowned intellectual, journalist and president of the Journalists’ and Writers’ Foundation (GYV) Cemal Usak, who was among the targets of the Turkish government’s ongoing crackdown on the faith based Gulen movement, has passed away at the age of 63 while in exile. Usak had been receiving cancer treatment for the past several years. Reportedly, he was told he would die in prison if he comes to Turkey.

South Africa is not a hunting ground for Erdogan

South Africans know what it means to be detained without trial and tortured. With that history in mind, the ANC-led government is not about to extradite a list of Turkish expats working in South Africa to Turkey, where their detention and torture is likely.

Toward an Islamic enlightenment

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who has put forward an interpretation of Islam that advocates peace, democracy, secularism (in the sense of freedom of religion and conscience for all), science, education and a market economy, and who has supported interfaith dialogue and mutual understanding and respect for people of different ethnic and religious identities and lifestyles, has been the topic of much curiosity for native as well as foreign observers of Turkey.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Dozens of the anti-Gülen and anti-Gülen Movement books on the shelves

Terrorist organization, you say

New Book – Hizmet Means Service

Reconsidering Gender Equality and Peaceful Societies

The aftermath of the failed Turkey coup: Torture, beatings and rape

Hizmet is rooted in the culture of dialogue

Ramadan aid cheers up Sudanese orphans

Copyright 2025 Insightful Neighbor