{"id":415239,"date":"2018-04-03T09:53:48","date_gmt":"2018-04-03T09:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=415239"},"modified":"2018-04-03T09:55:54","modified_gmt":"2018-04-03T09:55:54","slug":"kosovo-pm-haradinaj-visits-wives-abducted-turkish-teachers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2018\/04\/kosovo-pm-haradinaj-visits-wives-abducted-turkish-teachers\/","title":{"rendered":"Kosovo PM Haradinaj visits wives of abducted Turkish teachers"},"content":{"rendered":"
Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj has paid a visit to the wives of six Turkish teachers who on March 29 were said to have been abducted and flown to Turkey by Turkey\u2019s notorious National Intelligence Organisation (M\u0130T) by collaborating with Kosovar groups in its intelligence units.<\/p>\n
Haradinaj reportedly expressed his regrets over the incident, saying that his government would take all necessary steps to prevent such an incident from happening again.<\/p>\n
On March 29, six Turkish nationals who work for a group of schools affiliated with the G\u00fclen movement were abducted by agents of the Turkish intelligence service operating in Kosovo.<\/p>\n
Hours later autocratic Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan announced that the victims had been brought to Turkey in a joint operation conducted by the Turkish and Kosovar intelligence services.<\/p>\n
The abductions sparked a political crisis in Kosovo. Kosovo Prime Minister Haradinaj on Friday dismissed the interior minister and the secret service chief.\u00a0Haradinaj also said on Thursday that \u201cthe entire operation \u2014 revoking their residence permits, illegal detention, emergency deportation and the secret extradition to Turkey of the six Turkish citizens from Kosovo territory \u2014 was conducted without my knowledge and without my permission.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kosovo President Hashim Thaci also commented on the developments: \u201cToday we are disappointed because our relevant institutions, for reasons that remain to be clarified to the end, have failed to defend these principles related to the human rights of foreign nationals who live and work in our country. I am informed by the competent authorities after the event that six citizens were deported today to Turkey on the grounds that they did not have a residence permit in Kosovo.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, President Thaci changed his tone on Saturday and said he was informed by the intelligence service that \u201ctheir arrest and deportation is related to their illegal and dangerous activity in Kosovo.\u201d\u00a0He also hinted that he was not pleased with the dismissal of the interior minister and secret service chief.<\/p>\n