Turkey’s Interior Ministry has released a list of 99 people who are currently abroad and who will be stripped of their citizenship if they do not return to the country within three months.
Published in the Official Gazette on Sept 10, the list implicates 99 people, among them a 68-year-old man and many others in their twenties, with the youngest being 23 years of age.
The individuals on the list are wanted in connection to alleged violation of Articles 302, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 314 and 315 of the Turkish Penal Code and are accused of leading, membership in or aiding a terrorist organization as well as of attempting to destroy constitutional order.
This was the second such list as the ministry released another list of 130 people including Turkish-Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen and deputies from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in June.
Post-coup government decrees, issued on Jan. 6, 2017, enabled authorities to strip Turkish nationals living abroad of their citizenship if they do not return home within three months after they were summoned as part of an investigation or prosecution.
The Justice Ministry will issue a “return home” call in the Official Gazette for suspects abroad. If they fail to respond to the call within three months, their citizenship will be revoked by Cabinet decision.
The Turkish government accuses Gülen and his movement of masterminding a July 15, 2016 coup attempt, although they deny any involvement.
The three-month period given to Gülen and the other 129 people on the first list to return to Turkey ended on Sept. 5.
Turkey has already detained more than 120,000 and arrested some 55,000 people over alleged ties to the Gülen movement, while thousands of passports were earlier revoked. (Turkey Purge)