Tag Archives: Turkish

Two More Suspects Arrested Over Tulip School Kidnap.

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The Police appear to be keeping to their promise to fish out all those behind the kidnap of five staff and three students of the Nigeria-Tulip International School in Ogun state.

 

Two more of the suspects have been arrested, bringing the number of those in Police custody to six.

 

The latest arrest was said to have been made at the Majidun area of Ikorodu, Lagos on Sunday as the suspected kidnappers left the creek on their way to Ondo state.

 

Three million naira of the ransom paid was recovered from the suspects who were said to have confessed to the crime and many other kidnappings within Lagos and Ogun state.

 

The Abuja Police Command at the weekend paraded four suspected members of the kidnapping gang.

 

Parading the suspects at the Force Headquarters in Abuja, the Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Moshood Jimoh said the four suspects were arrested at various locations in Delta, Ogun and Lagos states.

 

 

The gunmen invaded the school, formerly known as Turkish International School, on the night of Friday, January 13 in a white Hilux and took the students and the teachers away.

 

On January 24, the five staff and three students were released after 11 days in captivity.

 

Source: Channels TV

Kidnapped Turkish school Students Regain Freedom after 11 days in Captivity

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The students and staff of Nigerian Tulip International Colleges (NTIC) in Ogun state, who were abducted 11 days ago, have regained freedom.

A source told newsmen  that their abductors released them late Tuesday, but that the captives trekked for three hours before they could get to the school premises.
Cemal Yigit, spokesman of the school, confirmed the release of the students, saying they had reunited with their parents and family members.
“We wish to inform the general public that the kidnapped students and staff of the Nigerian Tulip International Colleges (NTIC) Ogun state, have regained freedom,” he said in a statement.
“The victims were released this evening after a painstaking collaborative effort by the relevant security agencies in the country.  The management of NTIC wishes to express our gratitude to the relevant security agencies for their efforts in securing the release of the three students, one Turkish teacher, a cook and three supervisors.
“We also wish to extend our appreciation to the government and good people of Ogun state for their support throughout the difficult period. The role of the Ogun state government is highly appreciated.
“Our special appreciation also goes to President Muhammadu Buhari, the Inspector General of Police, the Director-General of the Department of State Services, the Chief of Army Staff, and others too numerous to mention for their efforts.
“The students and teachers are doing fine and have reunited with their parents. We also wish to extend our heartfelt appreciation to the parents and guardians of NTIC Ogun, for their support all through the period.”
Earlier, Kayode Aderanti, assistant inspector-general of police (AIG) , zone 2, had given the assurance that they would be released within 24 hours.
Aderanti said this shortly after visiting former President Olusegun Obasanjo at his hill top residence in Abeokuta.
He said that he spoke with the leader of the search team and that he got a positive response from him.
He denied the reports that the families of the victims had been paying ransom, insisting that “no ransom has been paid”.
Aderanti urged residents of Ogun to partner with the police to ensure that lives and property were properly secured.
A day after the incident, Yigit had explained how the attackers invaded the school.
“At about 9.30pm local time on January 13, a group of people armed with dangerous weapons gained entrance to the girls’ section through different means and held hostage three female supervisors, a female cook, a female teacher (Turkish) and three students,” he had said.
“The school security noticed some movement on the CCTV camera at the girls’ section and promptly deployed security personnel and alerted the relevant security agencies in the area as customary. Upon hearing the security alarm activated and sighting our security personnel, the armed invaders opened fire on the security staff and managed to escape through a very dangerous route with the hostages.
“The security agencies are currently on their trail as the whole area has been cordoned off.”

Turkish and Russian diplomats will meet as planned to discuss Aleppo amidst rift.

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Diplomats from Turkey and Russia will meet as planned on Tuesday to discuss the situation in the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo, one day after the assassination of Russia’s ambassador to Turkey.

On Monday night, a Turkish police officer fired several shots at Andrey Karlov as the Russian envoy opened an art exhibition in Ankara, shouting “Do not forget Aleppo! Do not forget Syria.”
The assassination came at a time of thawing relations between Russia and Turkey, and at a pivotal moment for the war in Syria, where Russia has been instrumental in President Bashar al-Assad’s push to retake rebel-held areas.
Six people have been taken in for questioning in relation to the shooting, including five members of the gunman’s family and one flatmate, according to Turkish state news agency Anadolu.
The gunman gestures near the body of Karlov. In a video circulating on social media, the shooter is heard shouting, “Allahu akbar (God is greatest). Do not forget Aleppo! Do not forget Syria! Do not forget Aleppo! Do not forget Syria!” Russia has been instrumental in helping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in its push to retake the eastern sector of Aleppo, which had been held by rebels for nearly four years. Russia is also the most powerful ally of Assad’s regime and has carried out airstrikes since September 2015 to prop up the embattled leader.
Andrey Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey, speaks at the opening ceremony of a photo exhibit in Ankara, Turkey, on Monday, December 19. Moments later, he was fatally shot. Associated Press photographer Burhan Ozbilici was at the event and watched the assassination unfold.
 
Andrey Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey, speaks at the opening ceremony of a photo exhibit in Ankara, Turkey, on Monday, December 19. Moments later, he was fatally shot. Associated Press photographer Burhan Ozbilici was at the event and watched the assassination unfold.
The gunman gestures near the body of Karlov. In a video circulating on social media, the shooter is heard shouting, “Allahu akbar (God is greatest). Do not forget Aleppo! Do not forget Syria! Do not forget Aleppo! Do not forget Syria!” Russia has been instrumental in helping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in its push to retake the eastern sector of Aleppo, which had been held by rebels for nearly four years. Russia is also the most powerful ally of Assad’s regime and has carried out airstrikes since September 2015 to prop up the embattled leader.

Embassies closed in Turkey

All US embassy and consulates in Turkey were to be closed Tuesday following a separate incident, hours after the assassination.
Turkish police arrested a man who fired into the air with a shotgun outside the US Embassy in Ankara, Anadolu reported.
Video fed by Turkish video news agency IHA showed a handcuffed man being led by security officers into an unmarked police car as he shouted “I swear to God. Don’t play with us,” in Turkish. No one was injured.

How the shooting happened

The man who opened fire on the ambassador was identified as police officer Mevlut Mert Altintas.
He was killed soon after the Monday attack at the Cagdas Sanat Merkezi modern arts center in the heart of Ankara, at a neighborhood of foreign embassies including the US and Russia.
Karlov, envoy to Turkey since 2013, had been invited to speak at a photography exhibit opening featuring the work of Turkish photographers in the Russian countryside.
Altintas, wearing a dark suit, fired shots in rapid succession at Karlov’s back. The gunman circled his body, visibly agitated as he smashed photos hanging on the wall, said Associated Press photographer Burhan Ozbilici.
“Allahu akbar (God is greatest). Do not forget Aleppo! Do not forget Syria! Do not forget Aleppo! Do not forget Syria!” Altintas is heard shouting in video of the incident.
“Only death will remove me from here. Everyone who has taken part in this oppression will one by one pay for it,” he said.

Shooting a ‘provocation’

The brazen attack was immediately denounced by both Turkish and Russian leaders as an effort to derail relations between the two countries, which they said would not succeed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the killing was clear “provocation” aimed at undermining not just the normalization of Russia-Turkish relations but the “peace process in Syria” promoted by Russia, Turkey, Iran and other countries.
“The only response we should offer to this murder is stepping up our fight against terror, and the criminals will feel the heat,” Putin said in televised remarks.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan echoed his sentiments, saying “the Russian government and the Turkish republic have the will to not fall into that provocation.”
Officials from both countries and Iran will meet to discuss issues in Syria Tuesday in Moscow.
On the same day, an 18-strong investigative team of Russia’s special agencies is scheduled to arrive in Turkey to help authorities with their inquiries, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state-run TASS on Tuesday.
“The important thing is to understand who is behind this crime,” Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
“We are convinced that the main goal of those who planned this barbaric act [is] to undermine the process of normalization of relations between Russia and Turkey, largely in order to prevent an effective fight against terrorism in Syria. This goal is futile. It will not work.”
Emergency vehicles respond to the shooting of the Russian ambassador to Turkey.
Emergency vehicles respond to the shooting of the Russian ambassador to Turkey.

Russia and Turkey’s role in Syria

Russia has been denounced by human rights groups and several countries over its backing of the Syrian president.
It is the most powerful ally of Assad’s regime and has carried out airstrikes since September 2015 to prop up the embattled leader. As one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Russia has also used its veto powers to block a political solution to end the war.
Analyst: More violence to come in Turkey

Turkey’s deadly year

The shooting of the ambassador is the latest in a long string of attacks in Turkey this year, although it’s the first in recent memory to be directed at a foreign dignitary.
Relations between Russia and Turkey hit an all-time low after Turkish forces shot a Russian warplane out of the sky near the Syrian border in November 2015.
Russia slapped a raft of sanctions on Turkey after the deadly incident, hurting Turkish exports and damaging its tourism industry.
The relationship began to thaw in June, when Erdogan wrote a letter expressing “regret” to the dead pilot’s family.
When Erdogan faced down an attempted military coup in July, Putin was among the first world leaders to call and offer his support.
Erdogan and Putin have spoken several times on the phone in recent weeks as they worked to reach a deal to evacuate civilians from eastern Aleppo.

Six Detained After Turkish Dormitory Fire Kills Schoolgirls

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Authorities in southern Turkey, detained six people on Wednesday over a fire in a dormitory that killed 11 schoolgirls and one other person, the state-agency said.

Flames swept through the mostly wooden interior of the two-storey dormitory in the town of Aladag late on Tuesday, causing the roof to collapse.

European Affairs Minister Omer Celik, a ruling AK Party lawmaker who represents the surrounding province in the national parliament, said the suspected cause was an electrical fault.

But the opposition complained of lax regulation and criticised an education policy that has seen a growing number of such dormitories set up to house poor students from villages where there are no state schools.

Local media said the dormitory was run by one of the several religious movements in Turkey that operate such facilities. Elif Dogan Turkmen, a lawmaker from the main opposition Republican People’s Party, said she had unsuccessfully tabled several proposals in parliament to improve the inspection and supervision of such buildings.

“The AKP has abandoned all state authority on education to religious movements and cults,” Turkmen told Reuters. “They throw children from poor families into the lap of cults by not building dormitories themselves.”

Local mayor Huseyin Sozlu was quoted by the Hurriyet newspaper as saying the door to a fire escape was shut, trapping some of the victims inside. But Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak denied that was the case.

“The initial information passed on from investigators and our prosecutor suggests there was no lock on the door,” he said.

Kaynak rejected claims of insufficient inspections, saying the building had been audited in June as well as last year and that it had the necessary license.

The fire began on the ground floor but quickly spread through wooden fixtures and carpets, according to a CNN Turk correspondent who said children had smashed windows on the upper floor as they tried to escape.

Twenty-four people, many of them schoolgirls, were injured. One of the people detained was the dormitory manager.

Such incidents are not uncommon in Turkey. In 2008, an explosion triggered by a gas leak in a religious preparatory school in the central province of Konya killed 18 girls and wounded 29. Charges were brought against the dormitory manager and other officials but the case is ongoing.

Credit: NAN

FG Summons Turkish Ambassador Over Detention Of Nigerian Students

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The federal government has summoned Hakan Cakil, Turkish ambassador to Nigeria, over the detention of Nigerian students studying in the country.

Last week, the Turkish government allegedly ordered the arrest of 50 Nigerians. While some have been deported, others are being kept behind bars.

On Thursday, Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs, said the government had asked its Turkish counterpart to free the students.

“Turkish Amb. H. Cakil Summoned: Nigerian Students Release Demanded,” he wrote on Twitter.
One of the affected students had earlier told TheCable that he was captured like Abubakar Shekau, leader of the Boko Haram sect.

The electrical engineering undergraduate of the University of Fatih, said Turkish officials found nothing incriminating on him but deported him all the same.

“Well, right now, I’m inside the flight commencing my first leg of my return journey back to Abuja. After being marshalled in like Shekau that they just caught,” he had said.

“So, I came back, with an open mind considering since I was back in the country, I’ve been hearing reports about how returning students were being treated. But I felt, okay here I am, as innocent as ever, supposed to even have graduated with my set this year but for minor visa complications in that past that made me miss a semester.

“I handed my travel documents to the officer at the passport control desk. I gave him the documents, he looked that them, then asked me for my father’s name. I gave him. I didn’t think anything about it, then I saw him hysterically punching numbers in a cell phone and giving orders to people; that was when I starting getting worried.

“I still kept quiet all these while, though. Still managing to smile, until suddenly two armed policemen came next to me and demanded I follow them. I complied, still smiling even though they all were giving me hostile looks and had no kind emotions either of their faces. Anyways, they ushered me to a waiting area just close to the passport control area. Here, they made me wait for about 10 minutes; I could see them photocopying my passport, talking to one another in hurried sentences and what not. It all seemed frantic.”

Turkish Citizens Protest In Nigeria As Erdogan Widens Coup Clampdown

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Citizens of Turkey resident in Nigeria on Thursday protested in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, calling for support for President Tayyip Erdogan who survived a coup attempt on July 15.

The protest was organised by by two groups – Musiyad and Little Turkey Nigeria.

The protesters, about a hundred, embarked on a peaceful procession from the popular Abuja parade ground, near the magnificent International Conference Centre to the Turkish embassy located on Diplomatic Drive, near the Nigeria’s Ministry of Defence.

As they marched, the protesters waved Turkish flags and sang songs of solidarity in praise of President Erdogan.

As they arrived the embassy building, the Turkish Ambassador to Nigeria, Hakan Cakil, was already waiting outside to receive them.

Mr. Cakil had on July 28 called on the Nigerian Government to close 17 Turkish schools in Nigeria for their alleged links with a movement his government says was involved in the July 15 failed coup attempt in Turkey.

According to the ambassador, investigations by the Turkish government showed that a movement led by US-based Fethullah Gulen was responsible for the failed coup attempt, which claimed over 200 lives. was in support of the Turkish president.

President Erdogan tightened his grip on Turkey, ordering the closure of thousands of private schools, charities and other institutions after the failed military coup.

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http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/208434-turkish-citizens-protest-in-nigeria-as-president-erdogan-widens-coup-clampdown.html

8 Turkish Coup Plotters Request Asylum In Greece

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A Turkish military helicopter landed in Greece Saturday carrying eight officers seeking asylum after a coup bid, Greek police said.

The Black Hawk chopper arrived after sending a distress signal to authorities at the airport in Alexandroupolis in the country’s north.

Seven of those on board were in military uniform and all are believed to have been involved in the attempted putsch, ERT TV said. Athens News Agency said the asylum seekers comprised three majors, three captains and two sergeant majors.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara had asked Athens to send back the eight.

“We have requested Greece to extradite the eight traitors as soon possible,” Cavusoglu was quoted as telling HaberTurk television.

According to an official in the Greek National Defence General Staff, “the helicopter is scheduled to be sent back immediately to Turkey”.

“As far as the asylum seekers are concerned, we are going to proceed according to the international law” Olga Gerovassili, the Greek government spokeswoman, said.

She said Athens was “in constant contact with the Turkish authorities”, and would take into account the fact that “the asylum seekers took part in a coup against the Turkish constitution”.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras early Saturday expressed his “support for the democratically elected” Turkish government.

Credit: Guardian