Kenyan authorities expel four Turkish refugees “at the request of the Government of Türkiye”

MADRID 22 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Kenyan authorities confirmed this Monday that they have expelled “at the request of the Government of Turkey” four Turkish refugees who were residing in the African country and who were kidnapped last Friday by armed men in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

The principal secretary of the Kenyan Foreign Ministry, Korir Singoei, said that they were repatriated to their country of origin during the day on Friday, since “he has received guarantees from the Turkish authorities that the four will be treated with dignity in accordance with the International law”.

“Kenya agreed to this request by virtue of the strong historical and strategic relations based on bilateral instruments between our respective countries. (…) Kenya assures the international community of its unwavering commitment to the protection and promotion of refugee rights” , according to a statement.

As reported by the BBC television network, which has contacted one of the kidnapped people who has British nationality, it is believed that the repatriates are followers of the Gulen organization, whose leader, the Turkish cleric Fetullah Gulen who was accused of the Turkish authorities of being behind the 2016 coup attempt, died the day before at the age of 83 in the United States, where he had resided since 1999 as a result of a self-imposed exile due to his differences with the authorities.

The Kenya Police Reform Task Force, of which Amnesty International is a member, has been “dismayed by the Government’s admission” that the country’s security forces have participated in the forced return of the four refugees,

“The principle of non-refoulement is a cornerstone of refugee protection. It has been recognized in International Humanitarian Law for more than seventy years (…) These obligations cannot be negotiated in the interests of commercial, diplomatic or commercial interests without violate both national and international law,” they stated.

The International Association for the Defense of Human Rights in Geneva (IAHRA Geneva) has denounced that the repatriation of refugees “is unacceptable” and “a flagrant disregard of human rights obligations”, while it has questioned whether Kenya has been elected to the UN Human Rights Council, “is this how you start? kidnapping and handing over four refugees to Turkey?”