Azerbaijan illegally expelled four Turkish teachers - European Court of Human Rights

Baku/10.03.22/Turan: On March 10, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on the case "Shenturk and others against Azerbaijan". The Court stated a violation of Article 5 (right to liberty and security of person) of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment). The case concerned the arrest, detention and deportation of the applicants from Azerbaijan to Turkey. All four worked in Azerbaijan as teachers in private schools associated with the Gülen Movement. The Court found that the applicants' expulsion was a disguised extradition and their deprivation of liberty was a violation of national and international law.

The applicants Taji Senturk, Isa Özdemir, Ayhan Seferoglu and Erdogan Taylan are  citizens of Turkey, and are currently in Turkish custody. They came to Azerbaijan in 1992-1995, where they worked in private schools.

In 2017, the Turkish authorities asked the Azerbaijani authorities to arrest and deport these individuals, which was done.

On June 8, 2017, without informing his family or the UNHCR, the Azerbaijani authorities deported Shenturk to Turkey. In 2018, Ozdemira, Seferoglu and Taylan were deported to Turkey.  All four applicants were arrested on charges of membership in the Fethullah Gülen movement, whom Ankara accuses of attempting a military coup. The European Court decided to pay each of the plaintiffs 9,000 euros in compensation.-0-