Two Gulen-linked arrestees die in Turkmen prison: report

Two graduates of Gulen-linked schools in Turkmenistan died of unknown causes last year, according to Canadian journalist Nick Ashdown.

“The Diplomat has learned that two political prisoners in Turkmenistan have died of unknown causes in the last year, both of them among the graduates of the country’s Turkish schools who were arrested in 2016 and 2017,” Ashdown said in his report.

The report has not yet been confirmed by any other sources.

The two victmis were allegedly put in prison by the Turkmen government at Turkey’s request in 2016 and 2017. They had links to Turkey’s Gulen movement which is accused by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan masterminding a coup attempt in 2016. The movement denies any involvement.

More than 150,000 people have been detained and 60,000 were remanded in prison over Gulen links in Turkey since the summer failed coup. Meanwhile, Erdogan called on foreign governments to punish Gulenists in their own countries.

So far, a number of countries like Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Georgia and Myanmar handed over academics, businessmen and school principals upon the Turkish government’s request despite the fact that some of those victims already had refugee status with the United Nations.