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Ukraine deports suspected Gulen supporters to Turkey

Turkey’s Interior Ministry announced the deportation Wednesday of two suspects from Ukraine over alleged ties to a terror group in what human rights advocates condemn as illegal renditions without due process.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (R) review a guard of honor during an official welcoming ceremony at the Presidential Complex in Ankara on August 7, 2019. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP)        (Photo credit should read ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)

ISTANBUL — Ukraine deported two individuals to Ankara over alleged ties to a terror group, Turkey’s Interior Ministry announced in a statement Wednesday. Human rights advocates said the move amounted to illegal rendition without due process, condemning Ankara’s ongoing efforts to round up suspected Turkish dissidents living abroad.

Salih Fidan and Samet Gure were arrested while trying to illegally cross the Ukraine-Poland border, according to the ministry, which alleged the pair were senior members of an organization led by Fethullah Gulen, an exiled Turkish cleric who is accused by Ankara of fomenting a 2016 coup attempt in Turkey.

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