Sunday, June 29, 2025
Nordic Monitor
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
    • Give us a tip!
  • About Us
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
    • Give us a tip!
  • About Us
No Result
View All Result
Nordic Monitor
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
  • About Us

Dutch traffic authority RDW’s letter led to an arrest warrant for a critic from Turkey

May 29, 2021
A A
Dutch traffic authority RDW’s letter led to an arrest warrant for a critic from Turkey

The building of Dutch national traffic authority Rijksdienst voor het Wegverkeer (RDW)

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Abdullah Bozkurt/Stockholm

 

Turkey managed to locate a dissident in the Netherlands and sought his extradition thanks to the Dutch vehicle and transport authority, which shared his Turkish driver’s license with authorities in Ankara, a document obtained by Nordic Monitor has revealed.

According to the Security Directorate General (Emniyet) document dated February 8, 2018, Turkish authorities were alerted to the location of H.U., a teacher who is a resident in the Netherlands, after Dutch national traffic authority Rijksdienst voor het Wegverkeer (RDW) shared H.U.’s information with Turkey.

That information prompted Turkish authorities to seek the possible extradition of H.U., who was wanted on bogus terrorism charges because of his alleged affiliation with the Gülen movement, a group that is critical of the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. According to Turkish government documents, he last worked as a teacher at the popular FEM prep school in Istanbul. FEM was shut down in 2016 along with thousands of private schools, associations and foundations affiliated with the Gülen group.

The document, signed by Mehmet Helvacı, acting director for the Emniyet’s Interpol-Europol section, referred to a letter by the Turkish traffic authority, which had received a letter from the RDW about H.U., who applied to exchange his Turkish driver’s license for a Dutch one. H.U. had no address registration with the Turkish Consulate, apparently for fear of prosecution by Turkish authorities.

 

Turkish police Interpol/Europol Department’s letter about the possible extradition of a critic in the Netherlands: 

 

The RDW website states that a foreign driver’s license from a non-EU member state can be used for 185 days and that the exchange of a foreign license for a Dutch one is allowed in some cases. People who are able exchange licenses do not need to take a new written or driving test.

The RDW letter led the Turkish police to seek the possible extradition of H.U. either through a bilateral extradition agreement between Turkey and the Netherlands or by means of an INTERPOL Red Notice for his arrest if direct extradition was not possible. Helvacı asked the Justice Ministry to assess the best possible option to retrieve H.U. from the Netherlands.

The document’s postscript indicated that the police also informed the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, which in turn led the Prosecutor’s Bureau of Investigation of Crimes Against the Constitutional Order to file a petition with a court to issue an arrest warrant for H.U. on February 26, 2018. Kenan Turk, a judge at the Ankara 7th High Criminal Court, issued the warrant on the same day, making reference to internal communications on the location of H.U.

 

Sample copy of a Dutch driver’s license.

 

A simple cooperation scheme between the Dutch and Turkish motor vehicle authorities on driver’s licenses pushed Turkey to intensify its hunt for a critic who apparently had nothing to do with coup plotting or terrorism, charges that are often abused by the Erdoğan government to jail its opponents.

The document reveals that yet another international mechanism that was designed to facilitate coordination among traffic authorities is being abused by Turkey to hunt down critics, opponents and dissidents abroad as part of an intimidation campaign to stifle dissent and muzzle critical voices.

The Turkish government’s abuse of INTERPOL’s Notices system as well as its messaging and diffusions, especially Lost and Stolen Passports, in order to maintain pressure on government critics abroad drew harsh reaction from the INTERPOL Secretariat, which removed hundreds of filings from Turkey, citing a clear violation of the organization’s constitution.

Nordic Monitor previously published confidential documents that revealed Turkish authorities planned to circumvent INTERPOL filtering mechanisms in order to successfully obtain international warrants and notices.

 

Turkish judge issued an arrest warrant for a critic in the Netherlands after a letter from Dutch traffic authority RDW identified him as resident in the country: 

 

President Erdoğan branded the Gülen movement as a terrorist organization in the aftermath of December 2013 corruption investigations that incriminated him, his family members and his business and political associates in an Iran sanctions-busting scheme. He accused the movement’s leader, Fethullah Gülen, of initiating the graft probes, an accusation that Gülen denied. The cleric, fiercely opposed to Iran’s mullah regime and highly critical of Erdoğan for aiding and abetting radical jihadist groups, has been living in self-exile in the US since 1999.

The government launched a major crackdown on the group, jailing and/or purging tens of thousands of government employees, unlawfully seizing their assets and shutting down schools, universities, NGOs, media outlets, hospitals and other entities that were owned or operated by people associated with the movement.

In 2016 Erdoğan added coup charges against Gülen, who denied any involvement in an abortive putsch that was branded by many as a false flag operation organized by President Erdoğan and his intelligence and military chiefs. Erdoğan used the event as a pretext to acquire “imperial” presidential powers, launched cross-border offensives into Syria and deployed troops to Libya and Azerbaijan.

According to official data announced in February 2021, a total of 622,646 people have faced punitive legal action in the last five years by the government due to alleged links to the Gülen movement. Of these, 301,932 have been detained and 25,467 jailed pending trial or due to conviction. Nearly 100,000 people were released under judicial supervision after imprisonment, meaning they are subject to a travel ban and are required to check in with a local police station on a regular basis.

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Turkey’s witch hunt of critics was carried out in Belarus

Next Post

Pakistani Air Force partners with Turkey’s notorious paramilitary group

Abdullah Bozkurt

Abdullah Bozkurt

[email protected]

Next Post
Pakistani Air Force partners with Turkey’s notorious paramilitary group

Pakistani Air Force partners with Turkey’s notorious paramilitary group

Turkey to compensate Iraq for stolen Kurdish oil in a scheme that enriched Erdogan’s family

Turkey suffers heavy losses as Iraq-Turkey pipeline remains shut amid corruption and diplomatic deadlock

June 27, 2025
US designated key operatives of IRGC Quds Force who work with Turkey’s intelligence chief

Israel kills Iranian Quds Force General Shahriyari once protected by Erdogan in Turkey

June 26, 2025
Top forensic expert jailed for identifying weapons sent to jihadists by Turkey’s intel agency

Turkish intelligence secretly shipped arms to ISIS terrorist group in Syria

June 25, 2025
Turkish President Erdogan’s operative in the US put on airline blacklist

Turkish President Erdogan’s operative in the US put on airline blacklist

June 23, 2025
Turkish intelligence knew of ISIS safe houses before Reina attack, yet took no action

Turkish intelligence knew of ISIS safe houses before Reina attack, yet took no action

June 18, 2025
Kazakh medical student’s life upended by Turkish intelligence over false allegations

Kazakh medical student’s life upended by Turkish intelligence over false allegations

June 16, 2025
Turkey’s aggressive spying activities on German soil continue, secret document reveals

Germany accuses Turkey of endangering public security, conducting covert operations targeting dissidents

June 13, 2025
Turkish spies who tortured victim kidnapped from Kosovo protected by judiciary

Turkish spies who tortured victim kidnapped from Kosovo protected by judiciary

June 12, 2025
Turkish spy agency MIT disrupts Christian lives amid false allegations

Turkish spy agency MIT disrupts Christian lives amid false allegations

June 11, 2025
Ankara cautious after Israel detains Turks on Gaza aid ship, avoids escalation with ‘secret’ trade partner

Ankara cautious after Israel detains Turks on Gaza aid ship, avoids escalation with ‘secret’ trade partner

June 10, 2025

Nordic Monitor

Nordic Monitor is a news web site and tracking site that is run by the Stockholm-based Nordic Research and Monitoring Network. It covers religious, ideological and ethnic extremist movements and radical groups, with a special focus on Turkey.

Tags

al-Qaeda Andrei Karlov China coup Cyprus Diyanet Egypt espionage Germany Greece Gülen Movement Hakan Fidan Hamas Hulusi Akar Ibrahim Kalın IHH Iran IRGC Quds Force ISIL ISIS Isis al-qaida Israel Libya Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı MIT Muslim Brotherhood NATO President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Profiling Qatar Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Russia SADAT spying Spying Activities Suleyman Soylu Sweden Syria Torture Turkey Turkish Intelligence Agency Turkish intelligence agency MIT Ukraine United States

Recent News

Turkey to compensate Iraq for stolen Kurdish oil in a scheme that enriched Erdogan’s family

Turkey suffers heavy losses as Iraq-Turkey pipeline remains shut amid corruption and diplomatic deadlock

June 27, 2025
US designated key operatives of IRGC Quds Force who work with Turkey’s intelligence chief

Israel kills Iranian Quds Force General Shahriyari once protected by Erdogan in Turkey

June 26, 2025
Top forensic expert jailed for identifying weapons sent to jihadists by Turkey’s intel agency

Turkish intelligence secretly shipped arms to ISIS terrorist group in Syria

June 25, 2025

Copyright © Nordic Research and Monitoring Network All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
    • Give us a tip!
  • About Us

Copyright © Nordic Research and Monitoring Network All rights reserved.