News / Turkey

Turkey summons Norway envoy over ‘coup-linked’ asylum seekers

Thursday, 23 March 2017 6:44 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 23 March 2017 10:24 AM ]

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (Photo by AFP)

The Turkish foreign ministry summoned the Norwegian ambassador to Ankara after Norway granted refuge to four Turkish asylum seekers accused by Turkey of being involved in a 2016 coup attempt, the spokesman for the foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

“It is saddening and unacceptable that an ally country supported the efforts of individuals, who have been called back from their state duty, to take advantage of the political, social and economic resources of their country of residence instead of returning to Turkey,” the spokesman said in a statement, and added Turkey’s efforts on the matter would continue.

A group of Turkish military officers based in Norway who had refused to return home after the failed July 2016 coup attempt, were granted political asylum Wednesday.

“I can confirm they have gotten political asylum in Norway. We are talking about a number of officers, based in Norway and who had been ordered home after the coup,” lawyer Kjell M. Brygfjeld told The Associated Press.

Norwegian justice and immigration authorities declined to comment.

People, mainly Turkish soldiers, accused of trying to assassinate Turkish President during the July coup attempt, are escorted by security forces towards the courthouse in Mugla, western Turkey, on February 20, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

“They had been in Norway for a couple of years,” Brygfjeld said, declining to confirm local media reports that there were five men involved.

Newspaper Verdens Gang said the group feared being arrested in Turkey. One of them who was not identified told the daily last month he had been fired, his passport had been canceled and he feared torture if he returned.

“If I return, I will be detained and risk torture and will be forced to make a false confession. People die inexplicably in Turkish prisons,” the person who was not identified told Verdens Gang last month.

Since the failed coup, which Ankara says was orchestrated by US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, some 40,000 people have been arrested in Turkey and more than 100,000 sacked or suspended from the military, civil service and private sector, while others have sought asylum abroad.

(Source: Agencies)

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