Elaborate Ruse by Folk Dancers to Flee Turkey

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(HaberTürk Newspaper, 5 January 2018)

folkdancers see this TNT report for the original story.


No big deal, just plain old-fashioned people-smuggling for money.

HaberTürk has obtained all the details related to the folk dancers who
fled to Hungary, supposedly for a competition.  Even the invitation
from Hungary was fake.  The invitation was given to the Turkish Folk
Dancing Federation by suspect Y.Ş., and Haydar B., a current official
with the Federation, prepared all the fake documents for the trip and
forged the signatures of approving managers.

It has been determined that suspects K.T. and L.İ. assisted Haydar B.
and that after the fake paperwork was prepared, suspects Y.K., M.K.
and Y.Ş. shepherded the 13 folk dancers through the Dereköy border
crossing at Kırklareli on the Bulgarian border.  Y.K. and M.K. arranged
for helpers to get the dancers across the border and Y.Ş. handled the
phony invitation. Based on the police investigation, Y.K., M.K., K.T.
and L.İ. have been taken into custody and Haydar B. surrendered to
the public prosecutor on 2 January.

According to the investigation, Haydar B. and his team promised to
get youths from Şanlıurfa, Kahramanmaraş, Muş and Izmir out of
the country for between 5-6,000 Euros apiece.  13 people paid the
money and were taken across the border, whereas 3 who did not
were left behind and the prosecutor has asked them for information.

The supposed folk dancing competition in Hungary was bogus, as
well. The fake invitation said the competition would be held between
5-10 November so the convoy with those fleeing the country crossed
the border on 1 November.  The vehicle rented by M.K. for the trip
was arranged for on a one-way basis and M.K. said in his statement
to police that "we went as far as Munich and there some people came
and took over the convoy from us." He also said, though, that "some
of the youths disappeared in various cities in Hungary."

Police declared that the incident was human trafficking for profit
and that there was no connection with any terrorist organization.
However, security officials noted that FETÖ (Fethullah Gülen
Terror Organization) was using the incident as propaganda,
declaring that "See, we're still strong and everyone is fleeing the
country."


Nevertheless, Gülen was spotted looking out the window
from his Budapest hotel on the dates in question...hmmmm.