Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday slammed the Kosovar prime minister for criticizing the secret deportations of six Turkish men who Ankara claims were supporters of an alleged coup plotter.
Erdogan said he was “saddened” that Kosovar Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj had dismissed his minister of the interior and his intelligence chief on Friday for deporting the men without his permission.
The deportations have been criticized by rights groups in Kosovo and abroad.
Photo: EPA
Saying Haradinaj would “pay” for this, Erdogan asked: “Since when have you begun to protect those who work to stage a coup against the Turkish Republic?’
Turkey accuses US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen for masterminding the 2016 failed coup.
He denies the accusations.
Those deported from Kosovo worked in schools and clinics supported by Gulen’s movement.
Turkey declared a state of emergency after the July 2016 coup attempt that is still in place. More than 38,000 people accused of links to Gulen remain behind bars and about 110,000 public servants have been sacked from their jobs.
Many proclaim no knowledge of the attempted coup.
Five Turkish teachers and a Turkish doctor were deported from Kosovo for alleged links to Gulen in a joint secret operation by the intelligence services of Kosovo and Turkey.
Family members have contacted the men by telephone at a high-security prison in Istanbul, Kosovar media reported.
Haradinaj on Saturday convened the Kosovo Security Council, asking institutions to make “a detailed” investigation into the secret operation.
Kosovar President Hashim Thaci said the Kosovo Intelligence Agency, or AKI, reported that “the only reason why these Turkish citizens were deported is related to their illegal actions in Kosovo, which, as AKI says, have endangered Kosovo’s national security.”
Erdogan also on Saturday condemned Israel over its “inhumane attack” in Gaza after a major demonstration there led to clashes that saw Israeli forces kill 16 Palestinians.
More than 1,400 people were also wounded, 758 of them by live fire, the Gazan Ministry of Health said.
“Have you heard any noteworthy objections to the massacre by Israel that happened yesterday [Friday] in Gaza from those who criticize the Afrin operation?” Erdogan said, referring to Turkey’s cross-border operation against the Kurdish enclave in northern Syria that was controlled by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
Turkey and its Syria-based allies drove out the group on March 18.
Temperatures were also raised between Turkey and France after French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday met a delegation of the Syrian Democratic Forces made up of Kurdish and Arab fighters.
Kurdish officials afterward said that France was planning to send new troops to Manbij — a northern Syrian town held by the YPG — a claim Paris denied.
“If France takes any steps regarding its military presence in northern Syria, this would be an illegitimate step that would go against international law and in fact, it would be an invasion,” Turkish Minister of National Defense Nurettin Canikli said.
“Especially if they intend to support terror group elements or give direct or indirect protection with armed forces, this would be a really calamitous step,” he added during a visit to the northeastern province of Giresun.
Erdogan has repeatedly said that Turkey could extend the offensive to Manbij, which is east of Afrin.
Ankara views the YPG as a “terrorist” offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey.
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