Turkish teachers with alleged Gülen links detained in Afghanistan
KABUL – Reuters
One Afghan and three Turkish teachers linked to an organisation regarded with suspicion by the Turkish government were detained by Afghan intelligence officials on Dec. 12, the organisation’s head said.
The move against Afghan Turk CAG Educational NGO (ATCE), the body that runs the schools, appeared to be part of a Turkish campaign against U.S.-based Fethullah Gülen, accused of being behind last year’s failed coup attempt.
ATCE, which says it is an independent organization, runs schools in several cities including the capital, Kabul, Mazar-i-Sharif, Kandahar and Herat and has been in Afghanistan since 1995.
“Around 7 a.m., four of our teachers traveling in two different cars were picked up by [Afghan intelligence],” said Human Erdoğan, the chairman of ATCE.
Other intelligence officials later went to the group’s girls’ school nearby looking for another teacher, he said.
He said the men presented themselves as members of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Afghanistan’s intelligence agency.
Neither the NDS nor the Afghan government immediately responded to requests for comment.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was on his way to Istanbul on Dec. 12 to attend the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Summit.
In March, Afghanistan ordered the schools to be transferred to a foundation approved by Ankara.
Last year, shortly before a visit to Islamabad by the Turkish president, Pakistan ordered Turkish teachers at schools run by a body called PakTurk International Schools and Colleges to leave the country.
Gülen suspect teacher arrested over possession of child porn
Meanwhile, a former teacher currently standing trial over suspected links to the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) was arrested on Dec. 13 after police found around 4,000 videos and 19,000 photographs featuring child pornography in a search at his home in the southern province of Adana, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.
The suspect was dismissed from his position as a teacher after an investigation was launched into him over alleged links to FETÖ. He was subsequently detained by police within the context of the ongoing investigation and the court ordered a search warrant at his home.
During the search Adana police seized 400 CDs, a memory stick, and books about Fethullah Gülen.
When police analyzed the content of the memory stick, they found it contained around 4,000 videos and 19,000 photographs featuring child pornography. They then once again detained the suspect, who had previously been released.
The man, reportedly married with five children, told the authorities that he had bought the memory stick from someone else and denied uploading the content himself.
Following his testimony at the police station, he was arrested by a court order.
Detention warrants out for 135 FETÖ suspects
Meanwhile, prosecutors issued detention warrants on Dec. 13 for a total of 135 people, including dozens of soldiers and ex-soldiers, over suspected links to FETÖ, Anadolu Agency also reported.
Prosecutors in the Central Anatolian province of Konya issued detention warrants for 70 soldiers, including 23 discharged from duty following last year’s coup attempt.
Konya police ordered the launch of simultaneous operations across 34 provinces to capture the suspects.
The detention warrants were reported to be part of an ongoing investigation into the the Gülen network, and prosecutors issued them on the basis of testimony from previously detained FETÖ suspects.
The suspects were indicated to have served in Turkey’s land and naval armed forces.
Prosecutors in the Mediterranean province of Antalya issued detention warrants for 65 people for their alleged links to FETÖ, including 35 civil servants, 25 security officers, and four civilians.
Antalya police units ordered the launch of a simultaneous operation in 99 addresses across 24 provinces, detaining an unknown number of suspects.