UN ‘deeply concerned’ by Kenya’s return of Turkish refugees

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UN ‘deeply concerned’ by Kenya’s return of Turkish refugees

8:00 CAT | 22 Oct 2024

Multiple people, all but one Turkish nationals, were reported to have been abducted in Nairobi on Friday

The United Nations expressed concern Tuesday over the repatriation of four Turkish refugees from Kenya who rights groups say were abducted and forcibly returned in violation of international law.

The four — Mustafa Genc, Huseyin Yesilsu, Ozturk Uzun and Alparslan Tasci — were sent back to Turkey on Friday, according to the Kenyan foreign ministry.

It followed media reports that they had been kidnapped on the street in the Kenyan capital Nairobi along with three others who were later released.

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said in a statement to AFP that it was “deeply concerned by the refoulement of four refugees from Kenya”.

It called on Kenya’s government “to abide by their international legal obligations and in particular, to respect the principle of non-refoulement, which protects asylum-seekers and refugees from any measure that could lead to their removal to a place where their life or freedom would be threatened”.

It is not the first time Kenya has been implicated in the forced rendition of Turkish nationals.

In May 2021, Turkish spies abducted Selahaddin Gulen, nephew of a long-time foe of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, despite a Kenyan court ordering that he should not be extradited.

He was the nephew of Fethullah Gulen, a US-based preacher who Erdogan accuses of masterminding a failed coup in 2016 and who died at the age of 83 on Sunday.

There are reports that Turkish spies have forcibly repatriated dozens of Gulen’s supporters from around the world.

Turkey also captured the leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, in Kenya after years on the run.

It was not immediately clear if the four sent back to Turkey on Friday were accused of supporting Gulen or any other group.

Kenya’s foreign ministry said it had received assurances from Turkey that they would be “treated with dignity”.

But Amnesty International said on Saturday, before the repatriation had been confirmed, that it was a breach of both Kenyan and international refugee law.

“Their abductions underscore the growing concerns about the safety of all refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya.”

An alliance of Kenyan rights groups, the Police Reforms Working Group, said it was “shocked” by the government’s action, saying it had “placed four human beings at grave risk as well as Kenya’s standing as a sanctuary nation”.

It said the action “undermines Kenya’s credibility” as one of 18 new members of the UN Human Rights Council elected earlier this month.

Kenya is hosting more than 780,000 refugees, the foreign ministry said.

Source: AFP