LAHORE: Turkish educationists affiliated with Pak-Turk schools appealed on Friday to the Pakistan government not to repatriate them, pleading they would be persecuted in Turkey at the hands of the Erdogan administration.

A number of Turkish teachers along with their families and students held a press conference, followed by a demonstration, at the Lahore Press Club.

The families were carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans in solidarity with the family of Mesut Komaz, seeking their release and allowing them to live in Pakistan under UNHCR protection. The family was picked up late on Wednesday.

They told the press conference they had been living in Pakistan and teaching children at schools for the last several years and they never had been involved in any unlawful activity.

Teenage Fatima Tosun said she had arrived in Pakistan 10 years ago and did not want to leave the country. She said they were concerned about the safety of the family picked up from their house and demand that the Pakistan government allow them to live here.

Teacher Mehmat Ali Serker said Pakistan was his only country where he had lived for 11 years and would continue to serve it. He said no law-enforcement agencies had contacted them to update them about the abducted family.

He said the law-enforcement agencies were treating them like terrorists, whereas they were only imparting education.

Saadullah Bayazit said he had been here for the last 21 years and had graduated from the Islamia University, Bahawalpur, in linguistics. He said he had been to Peshawar and Quetta without any problem.

About their reported affiliation with Gullen Movement, the Turkish said they had already been investigated and cleared by agencies. The manners in which the Turkish family, including two teenage girls, were taken away in the dead of night had raised several questions. They said they were allowed to live in Pakistan by the court as asylum seekers.

One of the Turkish teachers told Dawn the Turkish government was persecuting innocent people. He said the Erdogan administration had put thousands of people, including over 26,000 women, in jail.

He said the government had turned football and other grounds into open prisons. He said the Turkish regime had passed a law, according to which no one can challenge their imprisonment for five years.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2017