Kyrgyzstan protests over Turkey's detention of dual citizen

Kyrgyzstan summoned the Turkish ambassador on July 6 to protest after Turkish intelligence officers detained a man on Kyrgyz soil. Kyrgyzstan's foreign ministry said such actions were unacceptable and urged Turkey to return Orhan İnandı.

Tuesday July 06 2021 04:22 pm

Orhan İnandı.

Duvar English - Reuters

Kyrgyzstan summoned the Turkish ambassador on July 6 to protest after Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MİT) officers detained a man on Kyrgyz soil regarded by Ankara as a high-ranking figure in the movement of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen.

Kyrgyzstan's foreign ministry said such actions were unacceptable and urged Turkey to return Orhan İnandı who it said was a Kyrgyz citizen.

Turkish ambassador Ahmet Dogan said İnandı was also a Turkish citizen, the statement added.

İnandı heads a network of Turkish schools in the Central Asian country. He went missing in late May and his family and supporters accused Turkey of kidnapping him.

Ankara considers the schools, which have sprung up across the ex-Soviet region over the last three decades, part of the Gülen network.

The Gülen movement, an ally-turned-foe of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), is the widely believed mastermind of the July 15, 2016 failed coup attempt that left over 250 people dead.

Erdoğan said this week İnandı, whom he described as the Gülenists' representative in Central Asia, had been detained and brought to Turkey by MİT.