All is certainly not well in the diplomatic ties between the Nigerian Government and the Turkish Government as Nigerian students in Turkey are reportedly detain while few others were deported after detention.
According to multiple reports, the brewing row between Nigeria and Turkey following the arrest and deportation of some Nigerian students by the Turkish police, is as a result of the failed coup in the country in the wake of July 2016.
While several Nigerian students who were students of Fathi University, one of the 2,099 schools shut down by the Turkish government for links with Fethullah Gulen, the alleged mastermind of the failed July 15, 2016 coup, were reportedly detained at the Istanbul airport on arrival in Turkey, the FG has directed the Turkish ambassador to ensure the safety and well-being of the students.
Speaking on her bitter experience, one of the Nigerian students deported from the country, Rukkaya Usman, said the Turkish government did not give a reason for deporting her after being held for 10 hours at the airport.
The final year student of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Melikseh said: “As I got to the airport, at the immigration; they (immigration officers) collected my passport and resident permit. They started to ask me questions like: ‘what are you studying?’ ‘What’s your father’s name?’ They took my passport. This was on September 26. I asked what was happening. But they said they didn’t know, that it was a new law, that they were sending me back to my country.”
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has said it would summon the Turkish ambassador to Nigeria, Hakan Cakil, and demand an explanation for the detention and deportation of the students.
There are no words from the Turkish ambassador to Nigeria on the recent happening though Cakil had in the aftermath of the coup, requested the Federal Government to close down 17 Turkish schools in Nigeria for alleged links to Gulen, but was ignored.
