STA, March 1, 2018 – The families of three members of the Gülen movement who fled to Slovenia after the failed coup d'etat attempt in Turkey in 2016 have been denied asylum in Slovenia, the newspaper Dnevnik reported on Thursday. The Slovenian authorities have assessed that their lives are not threatened in Turkey.
"Me and my wife were shocked. First I couldn't believe it was true. We had expected a positive decision, as the procedure had been dragging for 17 months," a 34-year-old Turkish citizen who fled to Slovenia in the autumn of 2016 told the paper.
He worked as a volunteer in the religious and social movement led by Turkish preacher Fethullah Gülen in an Istanbul university and did not hold a high position in the organisation which the Turkish authorities believe to have organised the coup attempt.
The Interior Ministry has reportedly told him and his wife that their asylum applications were rejected because they failed to prove that their membership in the movement would get them in trouble in Turkey in the future.
On the basis of all available information, the ministry could not conclude that all members of the movement are under the threat of irreparable damage, Dnevnik reports.
The Turkish citizen does not know how to prove to the Slovenian authorities that he is truly threatened. "I can leave my family here and go back. They will arrest me and kill me, like they did with my best friend."
"Although the ministry knows what happened after the coup, it does not want to give us asylum. They don't want to clash with the Erdogan regime," he said, adding that he would appeal against the decision in court.
According to Dnevnik, the first rejections of asylum applications by members of the Gülen movement by Slovenia will likely be followed by same decisions for dozens of Turkish citizens who fled to the country for the same reason.
The Slovenian authorities want to send them back to the country which the Interior Ministry deems a safe country of origin. Slovenia has also signed a strategic partnership agreement with Turkey, Dnevnik adds.
According to an Amnesty International researcher from Turkey, thousands of people were arrested in Turkey after the coup attempt in July 2016 over suspicion of being members of the movement which Turkey labels as a terrorist organisation.
Andrew Gardner told Dnevnik that evidence against them was very scarce and weak, and in many cases there was no proof whatsoever of any criminal activity, let alone involvement in terrorism.
The Interior Ministry told the STA that a total of 180 Turkish citizens had applied for international protection in Slovenia since the coup attempt.
Procedures were stopped in 108 cases as the applicants left the asylum centre on their own, 27 applicants were referred to other EU member states, while 11 applications were rejected.
The ministry did not answer the question of how many applicants had declared themselves as members of the Gülen movement.
