Eight days after police raid on two Afghan-Turk schools in Balkh province, the six Turkish nationals are yet to be released and their fate is still unknown, relatives of the Turkish citizens acknowledged.

On January 25, police raided two Afghan-Turk schools in Mazar-e-Sharif city and arrested almost 100 teachers, employees and students of the schools including six Turkish citizens. 

Salih Bayir, Mustafa Alyar, Serat Gunes, Cengiz Karagoz, Cemal Kose and Ismail Kizmaz are the Turkish citizens who have been arrested by police.

“Six Turkish citizens who were teaching at Afghan-Turk boys’ school in Mazar-e-Sharif city have been in police detention for the past eight days and we know nothing about their fate,” said Ahmad Fawad Haidari, deputy head of Afghan-Turk schools.

Relatives of the Turkish teachers called on President Ashraf Ghani to help free the Turkish citizens. 

Maala Alyar, daughter of Mustafa Alyar, manager of Afghan-Turk school, said she and her four sisters and brothers have been born in Afghanistan and his father was just serving at Afghan-Turk school for the past 14 years. 

“I ask the president to free Turkish teachers. They should resume their work. The teachers should rejoin their families,” said Maala.

Zakaria Akhtari, an Afghan-Turk student, said the arrest of the teachers has affected their lessons.

“Raiding and mistreatment are not the solution if government wants to take the management of the school,” said Mohabat Akhatari, an Afghan-Turk student.

Balkh police meanwhile said the Turkish citizens are in police detention adding that they made the move based on government’s order. 

This comes after two Turkish citizens and former teachers at Afghan-Turk schools, Yulmaz Aitin and Sami Yaoz, who were under house arrest in Kabul for at least 13 months, were released and were granted asylum in Sweden.

Back in December 2017, Afghan security forces raided an Afghan-Turk female high school in Taimani area in Kabul’s PD4 and surrounded the school for at least three hours. The teachers were arrested at that time. 

Afghan-Turk schools’ parents associations said two teachers had filed an asylum application to the UN office in Kabul over fear of prosecution in Turkey. 

The Turkish government had asked the Afghan government to hand over these individuals to Turkey. But there is no extradition agreement between the two countries.

At least 600 boys and girls are enrolled in Afghan-Turk schools in Mazar-e-Sharif city. The management of the schools are supposed to be handed over from Cag Educational Foundation to Turkish government, but the students and teachers of the schools are resisting against the decision. 

On February 2018, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Afghanistan’s Ministry of Education and Turkish government, the management of the schools was officially handed over to President Erdogan’s administration.