Turkey’s embassy warns of Turkish asylum seekers

The Turkish EmbassyThe Turkish Embassy in Norway.Photo: wikimedia.org

Turkey’s Embassy warned that asylum seekers from Turkey may be terrorists posing a threat to Norway.

 

Last autumn, the government opened the doors for all Turks who are likely to associate with the ‘Gülen’ movement claiming protection in Norway, writes Klassekampen newspaper.

The Gülen movement is opposed to Turkish President, Recep Erdogan, and is accused by Turkish authorities of being behind the failed coup attempt in 2016. This led to mass arrests and police officers, judges, teachers, and many Turkish opposition have fled to a number of European countries.

“FETÖ is a terrorist organisation that poses a threat to our national security. We have solid evidence that it was behind the failed coup on July 15, 2016. The organisation is not only a threat to Turkey, but to all countries where it operates,” the Embassy wrote in an email to the Klassekampen.

FETÖ is the name Turkish authorities have given the ‘Gülen’ movement,and translated into Norwegian it becomes “the gülenist terrorist organisation.”

Fethullah Gülen and his followers have repeatedly denied that they had anything to do with the coup attempt in the summer of 2016.

There were a total of 3,546 asylum seekers arriving in Norway in 2017.

A total of 164 of them came from Turkey, which is twice as many as the previous year. Nine out of ten received asylum in Norway.

However, the increase didn’t continue in 2018. In January this year, only four of 143 asylum seekers came to Norway from Turkey shown figures from the Directorate of Immigration. By comparison, 23 Turkish asylum seekers arrived in January last year.

 

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today