According to Ankara: 80 Turkish nationals were not kidnapped but “bundled up”

On 5 April 2018, Bekir Bozdağ, the Turkish Vice President, made a guest appearance on television Habertürk to address the kidnappings that had taken place in Kosovo [1]. He declared that the Turkish Secret Services (MİT) succeeded in “catching” 80 individuals in 18 countries.

Mr Bozdağ, who had in the past been the Minister of Justice, provided assurances that these persons had not been “kidnapped” but “bundled up”, with the agreement of the governments of the countries where they were found, by-passing extradition procedures.

Mr Bozdağ has not however revealed the identity of the 18 countries to which he had referred.

The Turkish Secret Services have identified 4 600 Turkish citizens who fled abroad following the attempted assassination of President Erdogan and the attempted coup d’etat that followed in 2016.