Kenya has signed several military deals with the Turkish Government even as the country comes under sharp criticism for involuntary repatriation of four Turkish nationals.
The repatriation of Mr Ozturk Uzun, Alpaslan Tasci, Mustafa Genc and Huseiyn Yesilsa who were asylum seekers registered with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has attracted condemnation from the international community.
The four are believed to be members of the Gulen Movement which has been outlawed in Turkey due to its ways of operations that does not anchor well with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In one of the deals signed with Kenya, a defense company known as Bayktar belongs to the family of Selcuk Bayraktar, the son in law of Turkish President Erdogan. Bayraktar serves as the company’s chief technical officer.
In August 2024, a number of Kenyans in the security sector graduated from the Bayktar Flight Training Center which is located in Kesan.
“This indicates that Kenya may soon receive the unmanned system. The Bayraktar TB2 can carry lightweight, laser-guided bombs and fly for up to 27 hours at a time,” a statement by the institution read.
A review of the Military Africa’s Drone Procurement Dataset shows Kenya is listed as a country that operates quite a number of drones which include; three Turkish Aerospace Anka-S MALE drone, six Unmanned Aeronautics GhostRay drone, five Boeing Insitu Scan Eagles, and eight AeroVironment RQ-11 Raven.
Apart from Bayraktar TB2 Drones, is a medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned combat aerial vehicle capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations Kenya also has an interest in warships and Armored Personnel Vehicles (APCs).
In July 2023, Kenya entered into an agreement where former Defence Minister Aden Duale and Turkey’s President of Defence Industries Haluk Görgün, penned the deal and it’s a mutual commitment to collaborate on various aspects of security. This took place in Istanbul.
During the signing of the deal, Mr Duale said that, “he had a rare opportunity to witness various innovations in the defence industry that the Turkish military had ventured into which inform our efforts in expansion and modernization of our military equipment.”
More specifics of these agreements also included; provisions for sales, maintenance, modernization, and technology transfer of systems and platforms in the inventory.
Military sources indicate warships and Armored Personnel Vehicles (APCs) were the main focus of Duale’s visit.
In January 2021, the Kenyan military ordered and received a total of 188 four-wheel drive personnel carriers from Turkish armored vehicle manufacturer Katmerciler.
The Katmerciler company is owned by the Katmerci family which is known to enjoy close ties with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In the multi-billion deal, the Kenya Defense Force (KDF) was to get the vehicles and use them in countering operations against the al-Shabaab militant group.
Meanwhile, Fethullah Gulen who is believed to be the leader of the Gulen movement died on Sunday, October 20, just two days after the four Turkish nationals were repatriated from Kenya.
Gulen died on Sunday while receiving treatment in a US hospital is accused by the Turkish Government of masterminding a bloody attempted coup which took place in 2016 and whose main aim was to topple Turkey’s President Erdogan from power.
The coup allegedly left over 300 people dead and more than 2,100 injured. At the time many government buildings which include the Turkish Parliament and the Presidential Palace were bombed from the air.
“The leader of a dark organization is dead. Our state will continue to fight this organisation, this death will not make us complacent,” said Hakan Fidan who is the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Turkey.
The deceased is a Turkish cleric accused of masterminding a bloody attempted coup in 2016 in his home country on Monday died while receiving treatment in the US. He has been in exile in the US for years. However, he has always denied the claims.
He is believed to be amongst Turkey top three powerful men and he led the group known as Hizmet alias Gulen movement also known as Service- which operates as an Islamic movement with followers not only in his home country but also globally.
The Gulen movement now remains without anyone at its helm with more of its members who are seeking refuge in other countries being targeted for repatriation and finally conviction.
Gulen, who was a close ally to President Erdogan until they parted ways in 2013 due to the increase of influence has denied the claims that he was involved in the coup.
They parted ways after Gulen’s influence in Turkey started going on an upward trajectory as he kept on telling the people to embrace education as it was the only way they will be successful in life.
His campaign of asking people to get educated plus become hard working then started running schools and they managed to open several institutions globally. Just like they did in Kenya.
Now armed with education, the followers kicked off several businesses and even managed to get jobs including in the government, military and the police.
It is worth noting that Gulen lived in the US since 1999 and attempts to have him repatriated so as he faces charges linked to the coup never sailed through as the US Government asked for solid evidence before making the move.
Unlike in the US where the government demanded for evidence before repatriating Gulen, Kenya on a similar request by the Turkish government forcefully kidnapped the four.
State Department of Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei on Monday, October 21, 2024 said that Mr Uzun, Mr Tasci, Mr Genc and Mr Yesilsa were repatriated following a request by the Turkish Government.
It is worth noting that the four who have been pioneers of matters of education in Kenya were residing as refugees.
“The Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs has received assurances from the Turkish authorities that the four will be treated with dignity in keeping with national and international law,” he said.
He further said that Kenya is committed to the privacy and confidentiality of the repatriated individuals and will refrain from responding to media inquiries on the subject until the ongoing inter-agency review of the case is complete.
Nation.Africa has learnt that Mr Uzun who is amongst the four that were repatriated was in plans to leave Kenya for the Netherlands.
This is according to Ms Sevgi Uzun who is his wife and residing in the Netherlands. However, the family reunification period took too long.
“We have been waiting for family reunification for 9 months. Unfortunately, we could not bring him to the Netherlands due to the extension of the family reunification period. Please, authorities should stop this unlawfulness,” Ms Uzun said in an address to the Kenyan authorities.
Mr Uzun has been living in Kenya since 2016.
