It is a shame for the Republic of Moldova, a flagrant violation of the human rights and a present made by the then government to the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This is how former and current MPs and representatives of civil society describe the expulsion of the seven Turkish teachers from the Republic of Moldova on September 6, 2018. In this case, the Republic of Moldova was convicted by the ECHR, being obliged to pay €175,000 in respect of pecuniary damage to teachers’ families, IPN reports.
In three years of the expulsion of the Turkish teachers from Moldova, the current chairman of the Parliament’s commission on security, defense and public order Lilian Carp said the action was coordinated by the most important decision makers of the country and the goal was to please the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“This case shows that the state institutions were built so as to be coordinated by one person. The political interest in this case is very clear. Plahotniuc and the Democratic Party that was in power were isolated on the international arena and the tried to have a protector at the foreign level, which is Turkey. The lives of these people who were simply sold were the cost of the then isolation of PDM. In other conditions, these persons should have chosen the place where to be expelled,” PAS MP Lilian Carp stated in the talk show “Black Box” on TV8 channel.
The former chairman of the Parliament’s commission on security, defense and public order Chiril Moțpan, who also headed the commission of inquiry into the expulsion, said the measure was taken by SIS employees under the guidance of the former Democratic leader Vlad Plahotniuc.
“It was a criminal act and a shame for the Republic of Moldova. At a distance of three years, I even think it was a conspiracy of state instructions and particular politicians. It was coordinated by SIS that acted on the instruction of politicians. Under the law, the then Head of Parliament Andrian Candu was responsible for the actions to fight terrorism and he should have been informed about that act. But nothing was done without being coordinated with Plahotniuc. Vasile Botnari (ex-SIS director, e.n.) is just a pawn in this game as other involved persons were also identified, including Sergiu Mițulescu of SIS,” stated Chiril Moțpan.
The representatives of civil society describe the expulsion of the seven Turkish teachers, who were transported by a charter plane to Turkey and convicted to long prison terms there, as an act of injustice.
“In September, the Turkish teachers were expelled from the Republic of Moldova, while in October President Erdogan came to Chisinau. It was a kind of present for Erdogan so that this felt well when he came to the Republic of Moldova. Furthermore, the SIS cars were accompanied by vehicles of the Ministry of the Interior. How could something like this have been possible if the Ministry’s vehicles hadn’t been involved? A person declared undesirable in a country is taken to the border and this decides where to go. In this case, something like this didn’t happen,” said the chairman of the Legal Resources Center Vladislav Gribincea.
The former SIS director Vasile Botnari was the only person convicted in the case of the Turkish teachers, who were employees of Orizont Lyceum. Botnari was fined 88,000 and was banned from holding public posts for a five-year period.
