Mesut Kacmez, a former principal of the PakTurk School, his wife and two teenage daughters were whisked away from their WAPDA Town residence on September 27 by around 15 ‘law-enforcement officials’ in plain clothes.
On October 3, the Lahore High Court issued a stay order against the deportation of Turkish teachers, including Kacmez’s family. Their name was also on the exit control list and the next hearing is scheduled for Monday.
Kacmez had sought asylum in the country after Pakistan revoked the visas of foreign nationals working at the PakTurk International Schools on the request of the Turkish government after last summer’s failed coup in Turkey.
Kacmez’s former colleagues Orhan and Mehmat Ali Serker told The Express Tribune that they had spoken to his daughters who informed them about their deportation.
According to Turkey Purge, a site maintained by journalists, the couple was blindfolded and forcibly put on an unmarked flight from Islamabad to Istanbul. From there, Kacmez and his wife were taken by police to Ankara for interrogation while their children were left alone in Istanbul.
