According to experts, this situation will have long-term consequences for the republic.
In Kyrgyzstan, the scandal around Orhan Inandi, the citizen of Turkey and Kyrgyzstan, who went missing in late May in Bishkek and was found in Turkey won’t go away since July 6. On July 5, the president of Turkey announced on TV that intelligence services brought 11 citizens of Turkey from abroad, who were accused in Turkey of terrorism and membership in the FETO movement banned within the country.
At the end of May, when Inandi went missing, the family and friends of him held several protests in Kyrgyzstan demanding that the authorities find him and avoid his departure to Turkey. Orhan Inandi is the head of the international educational facility “Sapat”, which runs the country’s popular chain of schools “Sapat” (formerly known as “Sebat”), Ala-Too University (formerly known as Ataturk-Ala-Too), as well as one international school.
Critics and oppositionists blame the authorities of Kyrgyzstan for having been aware of the special operation and for not taking any measures. The authorities of Kyrgyzstan and security agencies reject such suspicions, but fail to provide clear explanations of how another country’s intelligence could perform such an operation in the territory of Kyrgyzstan.
Orhan Inandi has been the citizen of Kyrgyzstan since 2012. The national authorities promise to make every effort to get him back to the country. Since Inandi is still the citizen of Turkey, few people believe that the intentions of the Kyrgyz authorities are true.
However, it should be noted that in June 9 to 11, 2021, when the authorities of Kyrgyzstan were “actively searching for Orhan Inandi”, Sadyr Zhaparov was on official visit in Ankara. During the meeting between the two presidents, the question about Inandi was raised, as well. Erdogan said he was unaware of his whereabouts and he didn’t want to know anything about the people involved in Fethullah Gulen’s agencies. The events that followed showed that the president of Turkey told lies.
According to experts, this situation will have a negative impact on the image of Kyrgyzstan.
“No one in the international arena would take us as a free country. This, in turn, will lead to no investments but swindlers,” said Rita Karasartova, the human rights defender and politician, to CABAR.asia. “We can become a Laundromat for dirty money, dirty tricks, speculations, schemes, etc.”
According to Karasartova, previous presidents Atambaev and Zheenbekov, despite their disadvantages, guarded Inandi from long arm of the Turkish intelligence for a reason.
“This was a result of well-weighed actions, not to be considered as the country that surrenders to the whims of other countries in the international arena,” she said.
Political analyst Medet Tyulegenov calls attention to the fact that the state has the tainted image internationally as an unreliable partner.
“We fell [in the estimation of international community] as the investment partner or beneficiaries of international assistance. After this incident, we fell even more because the authorities say one thing and probably do otherwise, which will cause even more distrust,” said Tyulegenov to CABAR.asia.
According to human rights defenders, even if the Kyrgyz authorities were unaware of this special operation, the fact that it was held in Kyrgyzstan undermines the prestige of the state, the nation’s leadership and security agencies.
Not the first attempt
According to the media, the authorities of Turkey have repeatedly tried to get Inandi, and every time they were met with refusal. In fact, Atambaev refused to close “Sapat” schools despite the messages of the Turkish authorities, and Zheenbekov followed the same line.
Inandi’s spouse said to local media that Orhan Inandi could leave for another country, but the authorities of Kyrgyzstan always said he had nothing to worry about and he continued to work here. Inandi’s spouse did not specify whether the same talk was held with the new authorities of Kyrgyzstan after October 2020. However, at the July 8 press conference, Tashiev, the chief of GKNB, said that in February 2021 Inandi went missing for three days and was found by GKNB. According to Tashiev, intelligence agencies warned him of the threat, asked him to tighten his security, and even suggested him to leave the country.
Some commentators pay attention to the political component of this issue: domestic situation in Turkey, internal political situation in Kyrgyzstan, the vector of the new Kyrgyz authorities.
“It was originally more than just a question of protecting our citizen,” political analyst Emil Dzhuraev said. “It has become even more complex in recent years because of the economic recession, political tempests, tragedy in Batken and Tajikistan. All these things happened with the new authorities that seem unclear to the people.”
“Here, both our state and Turkey as our brother and internationally respected state are responsible for this,” Dzhuraev said. “I won’t be surprised if after Inandi’s capture, Turkey will again become unfriendly to our country, as it was a few years ago.”
Medet Tyulegenov also paid attention to the political context. According to him, on the one hand, Inandi became a victim of poor legal and national system of Kyrgyzstan, on the other hand, he fell under the influence of domestic political changes and new priorities.
In the social media, many users call for evaluating this situation soberly, reasonably and taking into account the unequal powers of the two states.
Human rights defender Tolekan Ismailova does not agree that Kyrgyzstan could not resist the illegal attempts of the Turkish authorities.
“This is how an illiterate person thinks,” the human rights defender said. “This is the post-colonial slavish thinking that hinders the national development. We lose our achievements in human rights and liberties, respect of human dignity of our citizens.”
According to Ismailova, Kyrgyzstan should rely on international law only as it is the member of the UN and international community.
“Both small and big countries would have more respect to our authorities if they said that there are international obligations, that people must not be extradited to the countries where they are in danger. The president should have said, I am against tortures, I am against abduction of people,” Ismailova said.
She reminded that the authorities of Mongolia, which is smaller than Turkey, still did not let the Turkish citizen be extradited from the country. He was accused of relationships with the Gulen’s movement in Turkey.
“Even when the plane arrived, they said, take you plane back and leave. This is Mongolia, it is also small. But the Mongols take care of the image of the country, they can preserve their honour and dignity and protect their independence, sovereignty and be very successful,” Tolekan Ismailova said.
“It’s like adopting a child and then leaving him”
Although Inandi was de jure the citizen of Kyrgyzstan, whether Kyrgyzstan is safe for the seekers who want to avoid unfair treatment at their home country is a big question.
Human rights defender Aziza Abdirasulova said that in the early 90s, Kyrgyzstan proved to be quite a reliable state for refugees. But now this reputation has gone.
“The politics of Kyrgyzstan regarding refugees faced the critical point when Kyrgyzstan became a member of SCO and CSTO. Back then, the initiators of these projects began to dictate their terms,” said Abdirasulova to CABAR.asia.
Kyrgyzstan has ratified Minsk and Chisinau conventions that regulate the issues of extradition in CIS and CSTO states.
She reminded that Kyrgyzstan was criticised after the Andizhan events for extradition of a few refugees to the authorities of Kyrgyzstan. Many similar situations followed afterwards. It is known that Beijing requested Kyrgyzstan to extradite ethnic Uighurs, the citizens of China, and Kyrgyzstan satisfied such requests several times.
But Abdirasulova reminded that Orhan Inandi is a different case. Kyrgyzstan granted citizenship to him and the state has to fulfil its obligations to its citizen, the holder of the passport of the Kyrgyz Republic.
“Why grant him the citizenship if you cannot protect him? They should not have granted citizenship to Orhan if he was extradited, after all,” Aziza Abdirasulova said emotionally. “It’s like adopting a child and then leaving him.”