Expelled Turks, witnesses in the trial of the former head of the AKI

Seven years ago, six Turks were arrested in Kosovo and handed over to Turkish authorities within a day. They were soon convicted there, accused of being Gulenists. But on Wednesday, four of them appeared at the Pristina Courthouse to give evidence in the case where the former head of the KIA is accused of being directly involved in their deportation, violating legal procedures.

The deportation of six Turkish citizens, seven years ago, had caused one of the biggest public reactions for the way they were handed over to Turkey within a day.

Accused of being part of the Feto movement, they were tried and sentenced in Turkey to many years in prison.

But on Wednesday, four of them were witnesses in the retrial underway in Kosovo against the then-chief of the Kosovo Intelligence Agency, Driton Gashi, accused of being directly involved in their deportation, violating legal procedures.

The hearing, however, failed, as the Turkish translator did not appear at the Basic Court in Pristina.

"Due to the lack of an interpreter, we ask the court to justify today's absence in court within the time frame, then procedural actions will be taken."

The four Turks were invited to the retrial of the "Gülenists" case as prosecution witnesses.

In the first trial for the case, in 2023, the Constitutional Court found Gashi guilty, sentencing him to 4 years and 8 months in prison, while Valon Krasniqi from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Rrahman Sylemani from the Police were acquitted of the charges.

But, in December 2024, the Appeals Court remanded the case for retrial only with regard to point 1 of the disposition against the accused Driton Gashi, while confirming the acquittal of the other two accused.

Researcher at the Kosovo Justice Institute, Flamur Kabashi, expressed criticism of the Kosovo Judicial Council and the courts, following the failure of Wednesday's session.

"As we saw today, the hearing failed due to the lack of translation. This is a kind of disappointment and violation of public trust in the issue of the development of the judicial process, in a faster and fairer time. The judicial system must do its best to eliminate these failures in their entirety. The Judicial Council and the Court must be more attentive and such failures must not occur."

And Hilmi Jashari, former Ombudsman, stated that the expulsion of six Turkish citizens was contrary to human rights.

"The final conclusion was that all actions were in complete contradiction with these international standards, especially with the conventions that were in force. They had a status according to the law for foreigners, regular in Kosovo, they had continuous requests to the Ministry for the extension of these residence permits and they were in an employment relationship, which were regulated by an employment relationship, according to the law in Kosovo." 

Four of the six Turkish citizens expelled from Kosovo in March 2018: Yusuf Karabina, Hasan Hyseyn Gunakan, Cihan Ozkan and Osman Karakaya returned to Kosovo last year.

Mustafa Erdem and Kahraman Demirez are still in Turkey.

According to the indictment filed by the Special Prosecution of the Republic of Kosovo, Driton Gashi, as an official at the time of the commission of the criminal offense (Director General of the Kosovo Intelligence Agency - KIA), is accused of abusing his official position, by failing to fulfill his official duties according to his competence, in such a way that he recommended to the Department for Citizenship, Asylum and Migration, hereinafter DSAM, of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to revoke the residence permits of Turkish citizens Cihan Ozkan, Yusuf Karabina, Kahraman Demirez, Hasan Hyseyn Demir and Mustafa Erden and not to grant a permit to Osman Karakoya, on the grounds that they allegedly pose a threat to national security, a fact that has not been proven at all in a procedure implemented in accordance with the law, while the accused Rrahman Sylejmani, Director of the Directorate for Migration and Foreigners at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, hereinafter DMH, had recommended the issuance of six orders for the forcible expulsion of the injured parties from the Republic of Kosovo.

The PSRK claims that the accused Driton Gashi, for this procedure and for the deportation of the victims by force from the Republic of Kosovo, did not notify the President and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, as provided by the Law on KIA, nor the Chief State Prosecutor as provided by Article 25 of the Law on KIA, and that it also exceeded the competences including KIA, in arranging the travel, transportation and participation in the deportation operation that were not the competences of the leading agency, then directly engaged in the deportation action of them either because this was not within his competence.