“I am told they will kill me”
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Friday, July 14
Detained Turkish citizen Emre Cabuk’s wife, whose husband is in pre-extradition detention in Georgia for alleged terrorist links with Fethullah Gulen, says she has received messages that she will be killed, and that a group will be sent to Georgia to kill her.
“I have two children, my husband is in detention and I need Georgia’s state support,” Tuba Cabuk, Emre Cabuk’s wife, stated before her meeting in the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia with the request of state protection.
Tuba Cabuk says she received more messages containing threats since number of Georgians expressed their sympathy towards the detainee, who has been living in Georgia for 15 years.
“Those sending me messages say that my place is in my grave. My family is under threat and we urgently need state protection,” Tuba Cabuk said.
Before the meeting at the Prosecutor’s Office, some Georgian Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) criticized the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Accommodation and Refugees of Georgia for not granting refugee status to Cabuk and his family.
The NGOs released a joint statement which reads that the decision of the ministry is “illegal, unreasonable and politically motivated”.
Moreover, the NGOs say that the statement of the Refugee Ministry, which claims that in case of extradition to Turkey Cabuk will be placed in a European-standard cell and his rights will not be violated, is unreasonable.
The statement calls on the ministry to make the decision which will be in line with human rights standards.
It also applies to the Ministry of Justice and the government of Georgia asking them not to extradite Cabuk to Turkey.
The Ministry of Refugees explained that Cabuk “didn’t meet” the demands for refugee status and that the situations in Turkish courts and prisons were positively assessed by foreign organizations.
The Ministry claims that Cabuk’s life will not be under threat in his homeland for alleged links with Gulen, as the people detained with the same charge ‘felt well’.
Tuba Cabuk stated she would appeal the Ministry’s decision to the court.
Cabuk’s lawyer, Soso Baratashvili, says they have hundreds of letters supporting Cabuk received from Georgian citizens and from abroad.
Mustafa Emre Cabuk has been living in Georgia for 15 years. From 2016 he has served as a Quality Management Manager of Demirel Private College, and according to him, he has been carrying out only educational activities in Georgia.
He is accused by Turkey of heaving links to the FETO organization, registered in the United States and associated with Fethullah Gulen, accused of orchestrating a military coup attempt in Turkey on 15 July, 2016.
