Several employees of Turkish colleges in Kosovo, allegedly linked to the exiled cleric Fetullah Gulen and arrested on Thursday, have been reportedly rapidly deported to Turkey – in a move criticised by Kosovo high officials.

Kosovo’s Prime Minister, Ramush Haradinaj, took to Facebook on Thursday to say that the operation was undertaken by the Kosovo Intelligence Agency, KIA, in cooperation with the Kosovo Police.

"Six Turkish citizens were detained and deported," he wrote in his Facebook post, adding that there are some unclear elements regarding the urgency of deportation.

"As Prime Minister of Kosovo, not being informed by any local institution for their prohibition and deportation, will act in accordance with the constitutional and legal responsibilities regarding this action and the uncertainties about this action," Haradinaj wrote.

Kosovo police arrested the Turkish nationals on Thursday morning. The first reports stated three men were arrested in Gjakova/Djakovica and two others in Pristina, all of whom work for Mehmet Akif schools in Kosovo.

Haradinaj previously told a press conference that they were arrested because they did not have legal residence rights.

But Nazmi Ulus, director of the Mehmet Akif College in the town of Lipjan, told BIRN that their residence permits were valid until 2022.

Kadri Veseli, the speaker of parliament and leader of ruling the Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, criticised the arrests, indicating that he had no knowledge of the action taken. In a Facebook post, Veseli also said the arrested men had valid documents.

"Today's arrest of six Turkish citizens with valid residence permits in Kosovo, and Mehmet Akif College staff accredited according to Kosovo's relevant standards, does not represent the proper form of development of the rule of law or the correct consolidation of democracy.

"As a democratic state, Kosovo must institutionally address the legal responsibility of the actors involved in this case. The flagrant arrest of foreign nationals on groundless suspicions does not correspond to the European values that Kosovo should represent," Veseli stated.

The Gulistan Educational Institutions, which operate four Mehmet Akif elementary and high schools in Kosovo, confirmed that among those arrested are general director Mustafa Erden, deputy director Yusuf Karabina, the school principal in Gjakova/Djakovica, Kamaran Demirez, plus two teachers, Cihan Oskan and Hasan Gunakan.

Although Ulus listed only five employees as arrested, Turkey's state news agency Anadolu reported that six men suspected of links to the exiled cleric Fetullah Gulen, which Ankara calls the “Fethullahist Terror Organization”, were brought from the Balkans to Turkey in an operation carried out by the National Intelligence Agency, MIT.

In addition to the names issued by the school, Anadolu said another man named Osman Karakaya was also brought to Turkey from Kosovo.

According to Anadolu, the men were arrested with the cooperation of MIT and Kosovo security and intelligence institutions.

They are also accused of organizing the escape of Gulen sympathisers from Turkey to European countries and the US.

Turkey has accused so-called Gulenists of being behind a failed coup in the country in 2016.

It has been putting pressure on its allies and on countries in the Balkans to close down any institutions or NGOs linked to the exiled cleric.

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/arti...key-03-29-2018