The seven Turkish teachers of the Theoretical Lyceum “Orizont”, who were expelled to Turkey on September 6, were taken to different penitentiaries and not all of them have lawyers. At least one of them suffered injuries, an elbow fracture, but nothing is known about the conditions in which they are held, Galina Tufekci, the wife of the director of the lyceum’s branch in Ceadâr-Lunga who was among those expelled, stated in a news conference at IPN.
Galina Tufekci noted she found out that one of those expelled was hurt from that man’s wife. As to her husband, she said that no one saw him so far and he didn’t have a lawyer. She only knows that he asked for clothes and books from relatives as he was arrested in what he was dressed that day and had nothing else on him.
The woman stated she does not known what accusations were made against her husband. She travelled to Turkey only to visit their relatives a long period ago. As to the case of 1998 that involved the Turkish citizens, to which the Speaker of Parliament referred, 20 years ago her husband was a student and he graduated excellently the university. Moreover, in 1998 the youngest person of those expelled was only eight or nine years.
Galina Tufekci said her husband is a sincere and correct man who is appreciated for his decency by all those who know him. Their two minor children daily ask where there father is. A big injustice was done and they hope a day will come when her husband will return home and their children will get back their father. She regrets enormously that in a state like the Republic of Moldova, a decent man can be turned into an offender in only five minutes.
Representatives of the Parents Committee of the private Theoretical Lyceum “”Orizont” sent a petition to the country’s administration by which they ask to examine all the circumstances of the September 6 expulsion of seven teachers of Turkish origin who worked at this lyceum and to stop such practices that, according to them, damage the country’s image. These enumerate a number of moments that they consider illegal, namely: arrest of the persons without informing them about the reason; violation of the right to defense; banning of access to a lawyer; damaging of private property in the absence of an arrest warrant, and banning of access to the family members after the arrest.
According to the Committee’s representatives, the seven teachers weren’t communicated the decisions about their declaring as undesirable, these being sent by mail after they were expelled to Turkey. They were also deprived of the right to challenge the given decisions in court and weren’t told about the rejection of the application for asylum, these decision also being sent by mail, after the teachers were expelled. The right to freedom, the right to choose the destination country in case of a return and other rights stipulated in the national legislative documents and international conventions to which the Republic of Moldova is a party were also violated.
