{"id":86114,"date":"2026-05-19T12:57:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T12:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/86114\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T12:57:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T12:57:10","slug":"denmark-moves-to-deport-turkish-teacher-despite-risk-of-prosecution-over-gulen-links-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/86114\/","title":{"rendered":"Denmark moves to deport Turkish teacher despite risk of prosecution over G\u00fclen links"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A Danish asylum ruling has put 29-year-old Turkish mathematics teacher Tu\u011fba Ko\u00e7 on the brink of forced return to Turkey after authorities accepted that she was linked to the faith-based G\u00fclen movement but concluded she was not prominent enough to face persecution, a finding at odds with the way Turkey prosecutes people accused of G\u00fclen links, Turkish Minute<\/a>\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n

According to B\u00fcnyamin Tekin\u2019s report, Ko\u00e7, from Antalya province in southern Turkey, was ordered to leave Denmark within seven days after the Danish Refugee Appeals Board on May 18 upheld a previous asylum refusal. She told Turkish Minute that officials scheduled a return interview for Thursday at 9 a.m. and warned her that if she failed to cooperate she could be found by police and forcibly deported.<\/p>\n

Haydi arkada\u015flar, Tu\u011fba’n\u0131n sesini duyural\u0131m!<\/p>\n

“I am Tu\u011fba Ko\u00e7. Two years ago, I claimed asylum in Denmark on the grounds of my association with the Hizmet movement. My asylum claim has been rejected as of today, and I face imminent deportation within three days. I am gravely\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/DBpjkL6qgb<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Sevin\u00e7 \u00d6zarslan (@sevincozarslan) May 18, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

The board did not reject the core of Ko\u00e7\u2019s account. It accepted that she had ties to the G\u00fclen movement, a faith-based civic movement inspired by the late Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah G\u00fclen and known for its schools, charities and interfaith work.<\/p>\n

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan has targeted followers of the G\u00fclen movement, inspired by the US-based cleric Fethullah G\u00fclen, who died in 2024, since corruption investigations in December 2013 implicated him as well as some members of his family and inner circle. He dismissed the probes as a G\u00fclenist conspiracy and later designated the movement as a terrorist organization in May 2016, intensifying a sweeping crackdown after a coup attempt in July of the same year that he accused G\u00fclen of orchestrating. The movement denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.<\/p>\n

Danish authorities nevertheless ruled that Ko\u00e7 had not shown a real risk on return, citing the fact that she had not been detained, formally charged or convicted in Turkey, had no visible case in Turkey\u2019s judicial information system and left the country legally in April 2024. The decision effectively treated the absence of an open case as proof of safety, despite Turkey\u2019s record of using secret terrorism investigations, informant statements, student housing, social ties and routine movement activities as grounds for prosecution.<\/p>\n

In Turkey\u2019s prosecution system, the absence of a visible Turkish case file in the National Judicial Network Server (UYAP), a centralized digital system used by Turkey\u2019s judicial institutions to store and share legal records, does not mean there isn\u2019t one. It may mean only that the case has not yet reached the stage at which the target can see it.<\/p>\n

Ko\u00e7\u2019s name already appears in Turkish terrorism case material. A 2022 Antalya indictment reviewed by Turkish Minute contains a wiretapped phone call from 2020 between Ko\u00e7 and a former housemate whom Turkish prosecutors described as an active member of the G\u00fclen movement. Prosecutors interpreted the conversation as showing that both women had knowledge of fugitives accused of G\u00fclen links and helped provide housing for them.<\/p>\n

Ko\u00e7 was not listed as a defendant in that indictment. But the difference between being named and being prosecuted is not a bright line in Turkey\u2019s terrorism cases. An Antalya lawyer who represented defendants in the same case wrote that several people were convicted of membership in a terrorist organization based on allegations that they stayed in movement-linked student houses and tutored children of people accused of G\u00fclen links. He said Ko\u00e7 was in a similar position and argued that she could face prosecution if returned.<\/p>\n

The lawyer also warned that the lack of a visible UYAP file does not rule out an investigation because terrorism probes in Turkey are often secret until detention or arrest warrants are enforced.<\/p>\n

According to the latest figures from the Justice Ministry, more than 126,000 people have been\u00a0convicted<\/a>\u00a0over alleged links to the movement since 2016, with 11,085 still in prison. Legal proceedings are ongoing for more than 24,000 people, while another 58,000 remain under active investigation nearly a decade later.<\/p>\n

The UK Home Office\u2019s country policy note says Turkey\u2019s post-coup crackdown has led to hundreds of thousands of arrests and detentions, more than 130,000 public-sector dismissals, more than 230,000 passport cancellations, asset seizures and pursuit of Turkish nationals abroad. It also lists several risk factors that match parts of Ko\u00e7\u2019s file, including the use of a certain messaging app, G\u00fclen-linked schools, dormitories, organizations, social media reach and teachers at G\u00fclen-linked education facilities.<\/p>\n

Ko\u00e7\u2019s connection to the movement began in childhood, according to her account before the Danish board. She said she first encountered G\u00fclen-linked education through an exam preparation course in seventh grade, later stayed in dormitories linked to the movement during high school and university, took part in youth activities, helped students with mathematics and joined reading programs and trips. Her family had no connection to the movement, she told the board.<\/p>\n

After graduating in 2019, Ko\u00e7 worked as a mathematics teacher. She told Turkish Minute she worked as a paid teacher in 2019 and 2020, then at a private university exam preparation course in 2021 and 2023 before giving private lessons in 2024, the year she left Turkey.<\/p>\n

Ko\u00e7 told Danish authorities she organized events, supported families of people jailed over G\u00fclen links and helped students with lessons. She also said they stopped hosting people at home after realizing they were under police surveillance and began meeting in public places such as malls and parks.<\/p>\n

Ko\u00e7 told Turkish Minute that her former housemate left Turkey after they learned of police surveillance and later received asylum in the Netherlands. The housemate submitted a sworn witness statement in support of Ko\u00e7\u2019s asylum case, she said.<\/p>\n

Ko\u00e7 said Danish officials treated UYAP as decisive despite the Turkish evidence already surrounding her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked whether I understand correctly: Are you saying I should return to Turkey and wait until all this appears in UYAP before you would recognize that I have a right to live here?\u201d she told Turkish Minute.<\/p>\n

Her point was that the Danish ruling appeared to demand the very harm asylum is meant to prevent. In effect, she said, Denmark was telling her to go back to Turkey, face prosecution and detention and only then seek protection, if she could somehow escape again.<\/p>\n

The case has now gained another risk factor that did not exist in the same form before the Danish ruling. A social media appeal and petition\u00a0campaign<\/a>\u00a0were launched to stop Ko\u00e7\u2019s deportation, publicly identifying her as a G\u00fclen-linked asylum seeker facing return to Turkey.<\/p>\n

That publicity may itself increase her exposure. Turkish authorities have long\u00a0monitored<\/a>\u00a0G\u00fclen movement members abroad, and Turkish courts have used association, social media activity, diaspora ties and support networks as evidence in terrorism cases. Even if Danish authorities viewed Ko\u00e7 as a low-profile figure before the ruling, the campaign around her case has now tied her name, face and asylum claim to the G\u00fclen movement in a way Turkish authorities could use against her.<\/p>\n

The Danish board said Ko\u00e7\u2019s participation in one Denmark-based protest did not change the assessment because there was no information that Turkish authorities knew about it. But that finding ignores what country evidence says about Turkey\u2019s reach abroad. The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada cited sources saying Turkish authorities\u00a0monitor<\/a>\u00a0suspected G\u00fclen movement members abroad through diplomatic missions and pro-government diaspora organizations, including in European countries, and that Turkey has a policy of pursuing people allegedly related to the movement.<\/p>\n

Freedom House has\u00a0documented<\/a>\u00a0Turkey\u2019s use of transnational repression against people accused of terrorism, including G\u00fclen movement members, and said Turkish officials have openly taken credit for renditions targeting the movement.<\/p>\n

That matters because Turkish authorities have used broad evidence categories to identify people accused of G\u00fclen links. The UK Home Office note cites social media content, social media contacts, student dormitories, G\u00fclen-linked schools, associations and information from neighbors or colleagues among the factors used in Turkish state action against alleged movement affiliates.<\/p>\n

Ko\u00e7 said Danish authorities accepted her account but dismissed the danger because she was not a high-ranking figure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are saying: Yes, you are a G\u00fclenist, but you are not in a prominent position among G\u00fclenists,\u201d she told Turkish Minute. \u201cThey accept what I told them because I presented it with documents and concrete evidence. But they say they do not think I would face persecution or a risk if I return to Turkey.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Turkish courts, however, prominence has not been the decisive factor for people prosecuted over G\u00fclen movement membership. Teachers, students, people who stayed in student houses and people who helped families of detainees have faced detention, trial or conviction.<\/p>\n

Ko\u00e7 said she did not leave Turkey because she wanted to abandon it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a citizen who loves my country,\u201d she said. \u201cI became a teacher so I could be useful to my country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denmark risks sending Ko\u00e7 back to a system that has already named her, monitored her, interpreted her contacts as evidence and convicted people accused of doing no more than she is accused of doing.<\/p>\n