Turkish refugee, family arrested in Kenya face deportation
A Turkish employee in Kenya was detained at 12am on December 21, together with his family, over claims of being linked with the Gülen movement in Turkey and faced deportation.
A Turkish employee in Kenya was detained at 12am on December 21, together with his family, over claims of being linked with the Gülen movement in Turkey and faced deportation.
According to reports, the detention of the man identified as Mustafa Güngör by Amnesty International Kenya was at the behest of Turkish authorities, who requested his detention under a mutual legal assistance arrangement, together with the office of the Attorney General.
Amnesty in their notice on Sunday, said he was booked under OB 02 of December 21, 2025, by the Anti-Terror Police Unit of the DCI. This is the third such detention of Turkish nationals in Kenya.
The Gülen movement, which was inspired by cleric Fethullah Gülen, has been targeted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan since 2013 following graft investigations implicating members of his government.
Erdoğan labelled the movement as a terror organisation and intensified a crackdown after a failed coup attempt in 2016, which he claims was orchestrated by Gülen, a claim the movement denies.
Since the 2016 coup attempt, Türkiye has been accused of pursuing critics abroad using a range of tactics, from surveillance and intimidation to unlawful renditions. Victims of these operations have reported arbitrary detentions, torture, and other human rights violations.
The Turkish National Intelligence Organisation (MİT) has acknowledged carrying out forcible returns of over 100 individuals accused of links to the Gülen movement.
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According to his LinkedIn profile, the employee had worked as an IT manager for Light Academy Schools in Kenya since December 2011. Details from Amnesty International indicate he has a refugee card issued in December 2024.
Amnesty stated that he, along with his wife and two children, faces the risk of deportation and could be subjected to torture if returned.
“The Turkish citizen is at serious risk of refoulement to Türkiye, where he could be subjected to arbitrary detention, torture, or ill-treatment,” Amnesty Kenya stated in a post.
Forcing a refugee to return to a country where they may face persecution was a practice prohibited under international law and Kenya’s 2021 Refugee Act.
In October 2024, four Turkish nationals who were residing in Kenya as refugees were repatriated to Turkey, despite UN protections, drawing widespread criticism, including from UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
The individuals had reportedly been abducted by masked men in Nairobi shortly before their repatriation. Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary, Korir Sing’oei, stated that the Turkish government had pledged to treat the four with dignity, in accordance with national and international law.
This incident follows a previous high-profile detention in August 2021, when Turkish businessman Harun Aydin was detained at Wilson Airport in Nairobi on suspicion of financing terror. He was later deported to Turkey without being charged.
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