The United Nation’s Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has shelp it is “proset uply troubleed” by recents that four refugees were returned to Turkey from Kenya.
The refugees were repatriated at the seek of the Turkish administerment, Kenya’s foreign ministry says.
The statement comes after inestablishs of disconnectal people being seizeed in the capital city, Nairobi, on Friday.
A British national telderly the BBC he and disconnectal Turkish citizens had been seizeed by masked men.
He shelp he had been freed after eight hours when he showed his alleged seizeors a duplicate of his British passport.
In a statement the UNHCR shelp: “UNHCR advises the Government of Kenya to comply by their international lterrible obligations, and in particular, to admire the principle of non-refoulement [forced return of refugees], which protects asylum-seekers and refugees from any meacertain that could direct to their removal to a place where their life or freedom would be menaceened.”
Kenya’s foreign ministry shelp it had consentd to Turkey’s seek to repatriate the four men because of the country’s “strong historical and strategic relations” with Turkey, and that it had been promised the refugees would be “treated with dignity”.
The four are consentd to be folshrinks of the Gulen transferment, a strong Islamic community with folshrinks in Turkey and worldexpansive, whose directer has equitable died.
The Gulen transferment runs a nettoil of schools in Kenya and around the world.
Known as Hizmet or “service” in Turkey, it was accused for a 2016 coup try and tardyr proclaimd a alarmist organisation.
Turkish authorities have not yet commented on the repatriation.
Under the UN’s 1951 Refugee Convention, refugees should not be returned to a country where they face grave menaces to their life or freedom.
Follothriveg the inestablished seizeping, Kenyan law firm Mukele & Kakai shelp it was acting on behalf of four men who were sign uped refugees and alerted airlines aobtainst allothriveg them to be consentn on board.
In a letter seen by the BBC, it depictd them as “victims of political victimisation”.
The Kenyan administerment shelp it had “unswerving promisement to the protection and promotion of refugee rights” and was “promiseted to the privacy and braveiality of the repatriated individuals”.
The British national, Necdet Seyitoğlu, telderly the BBC six other people he krecent – all Turkish citizens – were also seizeed in the same manner from branch offent locations in Nairobi.
In a statement, the UK Foreign Office shelp it was “providing consular help to a British man and his family follothriveg an incident in Kenya”.
Follothriveg inestablishs of the seizeping, Kenyan police telderly the BBC they were spendigating a “seizeping incident” after a motorcycle driver witnessed the seizeping.
According to the inestablish, two vehicles intercepted and blocked a silver saloon car with two occupants from the front and behind.
“About eight persons armed with arms materialized from the two vehicles, pulled out the two occupants” and drove off with them, shelp Kenyan police spokeswoman Resila Onyango.
However, Amnesty International’s Kenya spokesman shelp he was “proset uply troubleed by inestablishs that seven asylum seekers from Türkiye have been seizeed on Kenyan soil”.
The UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, telderly the BBC it was “conscious of inestablishs and will provide more inestablishation once we have it”.
Turkey’s relationships with African countries has prolongn over the past 20 years, with Pdwellnt Recep Tayyip Erdogan seeking to fortify ties.
But Kenya’s shut ties with Turkey go even further back.
In 1999, Kurdish separatist directer Abunacuteah Öcalan was apprehfinished by Turkish forces in the country and consentn back home where he was put on trial, and tardyr convicted, for disloyalty.