Several Turkish NATO officers and diplomats have sought political asylum in Norway after the failed coup attempt in their home country last summer.
VG writes that the officers have served in Norway until last autumn, but are refusing to return to Turkey to be questioned about possible involvement in the coup attempt.
The newspaper has been in contact with several of the defectors, and all of them denied any involvement in the coup. They are living in secret locations in Norway and have been in contact with the immigration authorities.
– It is impossible to return now. I am dismissed from my service in Norway, and my passport is cancelled. If I go back, I will be arrested immediately and I risk being tortured and forced to give false confessions.
In Turkish prisons people die for unexplained reasons, says one of them.
“We can neither confirm nor deny whether persons have applied for asylum, nor say anything about any position or basis for seeking” writes Communications Consultant Andreas Skjøld-Lorange from the Ministry of Justice.
The Turkish Embassy in Oslo has so far not commented on the matter.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
