Georgian NGOs: "Denial of Mustafa Cabuk's refugee status is ungrounded”

Georgian NGOs have responded to the denial of refugee status to Mustafa Emre Cabuk.

They say that the decision of the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees is ungrounded, illegal and politically motivated, showing an unprincipled manifestation of the political loyalty of the Georgian government towards the non-democratic regime in Turkey.

Mustafa Cabuk was arrested on 24 May in Tbilisi. He’s been put in pre-trial detention on charges of terrorism, accused of cooperating with Fethulah Gülen and his organization and considered as a terrorist outlet in Turkey.

“The main argument of the Ministry is based on the controversial assertion that the organization of Fethulah Gulen is considered a terrorist organization in Turkey and the criminal prosecution of the members of this organization is legitimate. In its allegation, the Ministry fully ignores the international organizations’ assessment of mass violation of fundamental human rights in the process of criminal persecution of persons involved in Fethulah Gulen’s movement, which substantially changes the legal nature of this process and imparts political content to the matter,” said the document.

On 7 July, Georgia denied refugee status to the former director of Demirel College, Mustafa Emre Cabuk.

The Ministry’s argument, published by Liberali, says that extradition to Turkey poses no threat to Cabuk and that Turkish prisons are currently undergoing a series of positive changes.

Non-governmental organizations, meanwhile, refer to a number of international documents pointing out torture practices in Turkey. They call on the government, common courts, and the Parliament of Georgia, to disallow the extradition of Mustafa Cabuk to Turkey.