October 2024 – Nairobi, Kenya
During the early morning hours of Friday, seven Turkish citizens were reportedly abducted from four different locations in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. Mustafa Genç and his son Abdullah Genç, Hüseyin Yeşilsu, Necdet Seyitoğlu, Öztürk Uzun, and Alparslan Taşçı, along with his wife Saadet Taşçı, were abducted. The kidnappings have elicited alarm among local and international observers, despite the fact that there is still no information regarding the perpetrators or the location of the victims.
Later in the day, reports surfaced that three of the abducted individuals—Abdullah Genç, Necdet Seyitoğlu, and Saadet Taşçı—had been released. However, the whereabouts of the remaining four remain unknown. The kidnapping has sparked widespread conjecture about the potential involvement of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT), which has been accused of abducting Turkish nationals abroad who are associated with the Gülen movement in the past.
The Gülen movement, which is commanded by the Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, who is based in the United States, has been the subject of a political crackdown by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan since 2013. The Turkish government designated the movement as a terrorist organization and intensified efforts to suppress its members globally in response to corruption investigations that implicated Erdoğan’s inner circle. MİT has been associated with a series of extralegal renditions of alleged Gülen supporters from countries such as Kosovo, Malaysia, and Tajikistan, following the thwarted 2016 coup attempt, which Erdoğan attributed to Gülen.
The abduction of these individuals, many of whom were asylum-seekers enrolled with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), follows a well-established pattern, despite the absence of official confirmation. MİT has been known to target Turkish dissidents residing abroad, particularly those associated with the Gülen movement, despite international laws that safeguard them from forcible return.
The Turkish government is thought to be responsible for a growing number of suspected transnational repression activities, as evidenced by this incident in Nairobi. Turkey is ranked second globally in the execution of such operations, as per a 2023 report by Freedom House. Outright kidnappings and forced renditions are among the strategies implemented, in addition to surveillance and intimidation. Emsal Koç, a member of the Gülen movement, and Turkish businessman Koray Vural were abducted from Tajikistan earlier this year. They were subsequently discovered in Turkish custody months later.
The safety of the remaining victims is a growing concern as the Nairobi kidnapping investigations continue, and the incident serves as a reminder of the persistent threats that Turkish dissidents abroad encounter. According to reports, Kenyan authorities and international organizations are currently in the process of obtaining additional information regarding the abductees’ fate and the perpetrators.
