Yusuf Satılmış: Turkish Embassy in Kyiv refused to process my passport and ID card application

Members of the Hizmet Movement (Gülen Movement) in Ukraine were worried about the issue negotiated at the head-to-head meeting between Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of Turkey, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine.

Speaking at UkraynaHaber.com, another Gulenist Yusuf Satılmış expressed his concern over the agreements signed between Kyiv and Ankara.

Yusuf Satılmış, who has been working in Meridian International Schools since 2011, had to flee Ukraine not long ago. Mr. Satilmis has spoken to our news portal about his life in Ukraine.

Q: When and how did you start working in Meridian International School ?

A: I came to Ukraine in August of 2011 after graduating from Fatih University Physics Department in the same year. In my first year I struggled to adapt to the culture and the country. I attended local language courses and everything started turning over. I wasn’t experienced. But administrators of the school and other colleagues helped me to get over the things.

Q: Can you please talk about your life and achievements in Kyiv?

A: I spent almost 10 years in Kyiv. I had great friendships, talented students, a very warm atmosphere of the colleagues and good friends with parents and the graduates.  I was assigned as a class tutor of 5th graders in the summer of 2012. There were more than 15 students. I was very excited to work with them. We grew and learned together. There were very smart students in that classroom. But I have to talk about the best one. Liza T. was the smartest, most hard working, most talented and very well organized kid. She was always ready to work and easy to get along with. She was always very well planned.

I travelled to many countries and got gold medals in different competitions. In 2012 we traveled to Baku/Azerbaijan 6th International Environmental Project Competition. In 2013 I attended Professional Development in Physics Teaching in Samanyolu College Ankara organized by Zambak Educational Consultancy. I was the best teacher in 2014 in Meridian International Schools. Starting from 2015 I was the head of the DreamECO National Ecology Project Competition.

Our project The Metro Energy got a gold medal in Tbilisi/Georgia in The International Young Inventors Project Competition in 2016. My student has been awarded a gold medal in the Third Extramural Physics Contest in English in Katowice/Poland in 2019. I have been a Cambridge TKT Model Band 3 certified teacher since 2017. I have taken various online and offline training sessions, webinars and seminars. Some of them are EdExcel/Pearson Professional Training, 5th International Education Today Conference. I have also taken part in social projects like Meridian Charity fair, 1001 Meal Packs, Triangle Project, Picnics, Sport Activities etc..

Q: Why did you decide to leave Ukraine ?

A: After the 2016 Turkish coup d’état attempt I was afraid to travel back to my country. My instinct got me right. Thousands of teachers have been taken to prison. Some of them were tortured and died. Some others have been kidnapped and gone missing. I was also searched by police and  my parents were questioned  about me. In 2018 two Turkish citizens were illegally deported to Turkey. Another 2 Turkish teachers also were deported at the beginning of January 2021. Most importantly Turkish Embassy in Kyiv refused to process my passport and ID card application in December 2020. After this moment I was not feeling safe at all.

There were kidnappings and extrajudicial deportations from Azerbaijan, Kosovo, Sudan, Pakistan, Gabon, Moldova and Ukraine.

The suspicious circumstances of the arrest and hasty deportation of two Turkish nationals — the journalist Yusuf Inan and businessman Salih Zeki Yiğit — from Ukraine in July 2018 sparked outrage from human rights organizations.

By Yunus Erdoğdu | [email protected]

Twitter: @erdogduy