Do municipalities in Turkey organize human smuggling to Europe? Here is what we know
Click to read the article in Turkish
"Our people would often have to go to Europe or America for treatment, university education, jobs or food. Thank God, this picture is mostly reversed today."
This was what President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on April 17.
Recent reports from various provinces about people going to Europe as part of municipal programs and not coming back indicate quite the contrary of the president's statement.
The first revealed incident was that only a few of the dozens of people returned to the country after being sent to Germany for an environmental program by the AKP-led Yeşilyurt District Municipality in Malatya province.
It was followed by the reports of several similar events that took place in the past few years. Sending people to Europe through municipalities is thought to have become a "sector."
Although reports imply that municipalities are responsible for what happened, those who went to Europe had grey passports, or service-stamped passports, which are issued by the government. For this reason, the Ministry of Interior started an investigation against some local authorities.
The ministry announced on Friday (April 16) that it had assigned a civil inspector and temporarily suspended the issuance of grey passports for people other than public officials.
We have compiled the reports about alleged "human smuggling," what has been revealed so far and what authorities are allegedly involved:
Refugees trying to cross into Greece from Edirne in January 2020. (Photo: Ayça Söylemez/bianet)
A motion at the municipal council
The allegations began with the reports that almost none of the people who were sent to Germany came back. While the initial reports said that 43 people were sent, Habertürk later reported that the number of people included in the project was 53.
At the municipal council session on September 3, 2020, the Yeşilyurt Municipality took a decision to send 53 people to Hannover, Germany, as part of a project entitled "Raising Environmentally Aware Individuals," all expenses of which was covered by the Mega Kilit GMBH company.
Due to the obligation to have a non-governmental organization in such projects as required by the law on local governments, the "Malatya Personal Development World Association" was included in the project.
All invitees were registered to the association and granted a grey passport. They were then sent to Germany "to attend the training program to be held between February 15-27." Only five of them returned while 48 stayed in Germany.
The incident was revealed after Günnur Tabel, a municipal council member from the main opposition Republican People's Party, submitted a motion concerning the project.
Mehmet Sait Aytekin, the Malatya branch chair of the Malatya Personal Development World Association, told Bu Sabah Malatya newspaper that he didn't know the people who were sent to German and that they signed up for the association by themselves.
He said the municipal council issued a formal decision for the mentioned people's membership after he asked for one.
Their memberships were canceled after the audit carried out by a chief civil inspector, he added.
The Ministry of Interior announced on Friday that a deputy governor of Malatya, the provincial director of population and citizenship and two other public officials were dismissed from their posts.
"I didn't know they would smuggle people"
Speaking to Habertürk, Ersin Kilit, the alleged owner of the Mega Kilit company, denied both the reports that the company financed the project and his ties to the company.
He also said he had only hosted five people for a few days and had never seen the other 48 people. The people he hosted covered their expenses themselves, he said.
After these reports, Germany's police started following him up, he said and added, "I didn't know they would smuggle people."
Accusations against the Antep mayor
Kilit later told Artı TV that the AKP's Fatma Şahin, the Antep mayor and a former family minister, might have also been involved in human smuggling into Europe. "As I can learn something as a citizen by my own inquiries, the state can learn everything. I think they don't want to learn about it," he said.
He questioned why all governors and mayors involved in such projects still held office while he was under investigation: "You did a formal job and it became informal when Ersin Kilit sent you an invitation? Your duties continue, why was an investigation opened against Ersin Kilit?"
Kilit further alleged that 90 people previously went to Moldova and were sent back to Turkey after they were found to have grey passports, citing the Ceylanpınar district mayor in Urfa province.
Releasing a written statement today, the Antep Metropolitan Municipality said that all people who were sent abroad as part of its project had come back to the country.
Other incidents of "human smuggling"
After the revelation of the events in Malatya, reports about similar incidents in Tuşba (Van province), Erbaa (Tokat), Üçocak, Akçakiraz and Arıcak (Elazığ) were published.
Akçakiraz Mayor Sabahattin Kaya confirmed the incident and defended himself by saying that they sent people "who were a burden to the country."
In exchange for sending the people, the municipality got a truck worth 100,000 lira (12,380 USD), he admitted.
Barış Terkoğlu, a columnist for daily Cumhuriyet, claimed that people were previously smuggled through the Presidency of Religious Affairs as well.
According to the article, Ali Ekber Yurt, a "dede" (a religious leader in Alevi sect) revealed the incident and filed a criminal complaint but prosecutors refused to prosecute the allegations.
Submitting a parliamentary question, CHP deputy Orhan Sarıbal said that nearly 1,000 people had been allegedly smuggled into foreign countries through similar projects.
CHP deputies Seyit Torun and Veli Ağbaba submitted motions for the establishment of a parliamentary committee to investigate the allegations. (AS/VK)