Kosovo Arrests Five Turkish School Employees

Kosovo police arrested five Turkish nationals on Thursday, three in Gjakova/Djakovica and two others in Pristina, all of whom work for Mehmet Akif schools in Kosovo.

The Gulistan Educational Institutions, which operate four Mehmet Akif elementary and high schools in Kosovo, confirmed that 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.

Kosovo Prime Minister Ramish Haradinaj told a press conference that the five people were arrested because they did not have legal residence.

But Nazmi Ulus, director of the Mehmet Akif College in Lipjan, told BIRN that everyone who was arrested had residence permits valid until 2022.

"We cannot get the exact information from the police, what we suspect as a reason is Turkey's pressure on all Balkan countries," Ulus said.

Kosovo's Ministry of Internal Affairs clarified that it has revoked the residence permits of those arrested.

The ministry cited an article in Kosovo's Law on Foreigners which allows such permits to be revoked for national security reasons without giving any justification.

Kosovo Police spokesman Baki Kelani did not give further details, only confirming that "police are carrying out an operation".

In October 2017, Kosovo became the first country in the Balkans to detain a Turkish teacher, Ugur Toksoy, for alleged links to the exiled Turkish cleric Fetullah Gulen, who Ankara alleges is the head of a terrorist movement.

Requesting his extradition, Turkey claimed that Toksoy was one of the leaders of the 'Fethullah Terrorist Organisation', or FETO, which it accuses of being behind the July 2016  failed coup in Turkey against...