A new twist emerged on Tuesday after a human rights group revealed details of a private military engagement between Kenya and Turkey that took place months before four Turkish citizens were deported. Their deportation was despite condemnation from the United Nations and other civil rights groups.
According to the Stockholm Center for Freedom, the Kenyan Government was reportedly motivated by the deal that saw a private Turkish military company, Baykar, export an undisclosed number of TB2 armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), popularly known as drones, to Kenya. The company is linked to Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's son-in-law.
TurDef, a Turkish publication that deals with military news reported that the number of drones delivered to Kenya in the August 2024 deal was still unknown. The drones are designed for reconnaissance and combat missions and have key features such as sensors and laser-guided munitions.
The Turkish Government, in the past, also announced that it was actively involved in selling military technologies to other countries in exchange for political asylum seekers who are considered anti-government.
In the deal, the Kenyan Government reportedly sent her citizens to Baykar Flight Training Centre for training on how to operate the drones, a deal closely tied to the repatriation of the four individuals whose details the government refused to disclose.
“It is not known how many TB2s and ground control stations Kenya has purchased. Trainees from Kenya graduated by completing BayraktarTB2 Armed UAV training at Baykar Flight Training Centre," the Turkish media outlet reported.
According to Kenya's Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Kipkorir Sing’oei, the government did not want to disclose the details or engage the media on the identity of the four foreign nationals.
''Kenya is committed to the privacy and confidentiality of the repatriated individuals and will refrain from responding to media inquiries on the subject until the ongoing inter-agency review of the case is complete,'' the PS stated on Monday.
According to the Stockholm Center for Freedom, Turkish President Erdoğan has been offering Turkish-made drones at an attractive price in exchange for the transfer of schools run by members of the faith-based Gülen movement (which the four individuals are associated with) and the abduction of people linked to the movement to Turkey.
Mustafa Genç, Hüseyin Yeşilsu, Öztürk Uzun and Alparslan Taşçı, who were among seven people abducted in Nairobi on Friday, are believed to be at the center of the latest abduction and repatriation incident targeting Turkish citizens in Nairobi.
In May 2021, another Turkish teacher, Selahattin Gülen, was forcibly taken back to Turkey by operatives of the Turkish government in Kenya due to his relationship with the movement.
In September 2022, Turkish Businessman Harun Aydin, who was deported by former Interior Security CS Fred Matiang'i, over what the state termed as a link to terrorism and money laundering, after an intense interrogation by the Directorate of Criminal Investigation(DCI).
