Kosovo’s special prosecutors are investigating the role of 22 police officers in last year’s arrest and extradition of six Turkish nationals, a move activists called human rights violations, the prosecutors said on Thursday, Reuters reported.
The six Turks were arrested in Kosovo at Turkey’s request in March 2018 over alleged links to schools financed by the Gülen movement and a failed coup in 2016. The Gülen movement denies being involved.
“We are also interviewing more suspects in relation to this case,” Ekrem Lutfiu, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, told Reuters.
Days after the six men were expelled, Kosovo’s prime minister, Ramush Haradinaj, dismissed the country’s interior minister and secret service chief because he was not told the six would be deported to Turkey.
A parliament commission report concluded that the deportation was illegal and the constitution was violated 31 times during the arrests.
Kosovo’s opposition has accused President Hashim Thaci of ordering the deportations because of his close relations with Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan. Thaci has denied any wrongdoing.
Ankara said the six were recruiters for a network run by the US-based cleric Fethullah Gülen and had helped people accused of links to his network leave Turkey during a security crackdown in which tens of thousands of people were sacked or jailed.
At its peak, the Gülen movement operated schools in 160 countries, from Afghanistan to the United States. Since the coup attempt, Turkey has pressured allies to shut down Gülen-run establishments.