ARRESTS IN JANUARY 2019

30 January

The Turkish newspaper Sabah published on January 30, 2019 that the owner of the Baku Zaman newspaper printing-house, allegedly called a “representative” of the famous preacher Fethullah Gulen in Azerbaijan, was detained and extradited to Turkey. Just the detainee’s first name, Ibrahim E., was mentioned in the article, his surname was not printed. According to the newspaper, Ibrahim E. was considered to be one of the prominent Gulenists in Azerbaijan, and “the Gulen’s supporter’s newspaper” was printed in the House under his management.

The Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) informed the Azerbaijani side of Ibrahim’s whereabouts. As a result of joint activities carried out by MIT and special services of Azerbaijan, Ibrahim E. was detained. The other day he, accompanied by two  Azerbaijani police officers, was taken to Istanbul. Then, he was transferred to Ankara to open a criminal case against him.

It is worth to remind that the Gulen supporters have been previously arrested in Azerbaijan and transferred to Turkey. In 2017, three people were arrested and transferred into custody of Turkish security services, and in 2018, three more teachers were accused of collaborating and abetting terrorism, and also of liaising with the disgraced preacher Gulen. Their fate is still unknown.