Spouse of Detained Turkish College Manager Asks for State Protection

Detained Demirel College manager Mustafa Emre Cabuk’s wife, Tuba Cabuk, is requesting involvement of her family in the state security program.

On July 5, Tuba Cabuk filed a statement to the Chief prosecutor’s Office of Georgia.

She claims that pressure and threats are being exerted on her family through social networks and she is worried about the safety of her family members.

“We have filed a statement requesting the state protection. I am at home alone, with two children and I am frightened,” she stated.

Tuba Cabul says that in the last days, Turkish media has published stories about her family, calling them traitors.

“There are some letters spread in the social networks, which call on the people to come and kill us,” she added.

The manager of Demirel College was arrested on May 24. Tbilisi City Court ruled on May 25 that Cabuk would stay in three-month pre-extradition detention. The decision was made the day after an official visit of the Turkish prime minister and cabinet members to Georgia.

Cabuk's lawyer Soso Baratashvili says that his client is not guilty, and he is accused of having links to the organization FETO, registered in the United States and associated with Fethullah Gulen, who is accused of orchestrating a military coup attempt in Turkey on 15 July, 2016. 

Baratashvili is sure that Cabuk was detained at the request of the Turkish government.

Cabuk denies all allegations and says that he has been only carrying out educational activities during his 15-year stay in Georgia.

By Thea Morrison

Photo source: on.ge