The teachers and parents who gathered together in front of the Parliament Building carried placards saying “Freedom!”, “Free the captured teachers!” and “We want to study in peace!”. It happens after seven Turkish citizens who included six employees of the Moldovan-Turkish lyceum “Orizont” were expelled from Moldova, IPN reports.
The participants in the protest chanted “Don’t touch the teachers!”, “We want to study without fear!”, “Don’t sell our teachers!”, “Obey the human rights!” and others.
“The arrest left many signs – the broken door, mentally traumatized children, violation of many human rights as five of those detained initiated the political asylum procedure this April. Despite the insistence of lawyers, the fate of these persons is not yet known and the reason for the arrest is rather dubious,” said Rodica Țurcan, vice director of the Durlești branch of “Orizont” Lyceum.
According to her, among those arrested are persons who worked in Moldova for 25 years and they weren’t at least suspected of illegal activities in the period. “It is strange why they were declared undesirable now. The expulsion to Turkey will have a tragic end. Even if the theoretical lyceums “Orizont” continued work as usual, we are very concerned about what happened, about the fate of our colleagues and the members of their families,” stated Rodica Țurcan.
“We, the employees of the private education institution “Orizont” Theoretical Lyceum, parents of the students, graduates of the institution and civil society demand to be immediately informed about the rational reason for the arrest of the teachers of Turkish origin who work at “Orizont” and about the evidence based on which this decision was taken. These employees worked in the Republic of Moldova for 25 years and some of them came here when they were minors and graduated higher education establishment in the Republic of Moldova. We consider them valuable personalities who contributed to educating thousands of students,” said a woman teacher of “Orizont”.
The protesters demanded that the authorities should explain the reason for the detention that took place with serious violation of the asylum procedural guarantees and provide proofs showing that the detained persons were supporters of an extremist and terrorist group and also information about the whereabouts of the six teachers. They also requested to stop any SIS operation to extradite the Turkish citizens to the country of origin until the situation concerning the observance of human rights in Turkey improves.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Valeriu Giletski came out to talk to the people. The MP said that he personally took notice of what happened and the legislature monitors this process. According to him, it was decided to hold parliamentary hearings that will involve the administration of the SIS that is to provide evidence based on which these decisions were taken. “On the one hand, the state institutions presumably acted legally, but as MPs we used this parliamentary control instrument to see on what proofs these decisions were based. Today I don’t know more details than what the press reported. I do not yet have a response from the Security and Intelligence Service,” he stated, inviting representatives of the protesters inside Parliament to have discussions.
On September 6, seven foreign citizens, among who principals and teachers of “ Orizont” Lyceum, were declared undesirable over alleged links to an Islamic group and expelled from Moldova. The Security and Intelligence Service said the decisions were taken in a move to ensure national security.
