Mustafa Ceyhan Abducted in Front of the Courthouse

Mustafa Ceyhan is a businessman from Turkey who resides in Georgia with his family under UN protection. He visited Azerbaijan from Batumi (Georgia) on 4/20/2017 for a business trip. Once he entered Azerbaijan, he was unjustly arrested on charges of illegally crossing the border to Azerbaijan.

On April 26th, Ceyhan was brought before court in Baku. The trial date was rescheduled to an earlier date, and happened without a notice to his lawyers. His lawyer, Tural Emenov and another lawyer appointed by the United Nation found out about the trial and accompanied him. The judge acquitted him from charges pressed against him.

Ceyhan’s wife, Meryem Ceyhan indicated that as Ceyhan was leaving the court around 12:00 PM, he was abducted in front of the courthouse by a group of eight men in a black Range Rover with black tinted windows. His whereabouts are unknown since then. His family and friends are worried about his condition and fear that he may be illegally sent back to Turkey where he faces risks of torture and ill-treatment.

Ceyhan’s lawyers called the United Nations mission in Baku, Azerbaijan and requested assistance, however, representatives there told them that they could not do anything. They told them to deal with it on their own.

The Turkish government had accused Ceyhan of having ties to the Gulen Movement (also known as Hizmet Movement) and appealed to Azerbaijan to extradite Ceyhan. Alleged supporters of the Movement in Turkey have been dealing with arrest, imprisonment, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, confiscation and passport seizure. There are many examples of abductions and physical violence incidents in several countries like Sudan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Georgia, Myanmar, Malaysia and most recently in Kosovo. President Erdogan has on numerous occasions explicitly praised the abductions and promised more abduction in near future.

We encourage members of the media to contact Mustafa Ceyhan’s Lawyer, Tural Emenov from his phone number, +994554480700.

We urge international bodies and human rights organizations to take all necessary steps to find Mustafa Ceyhan and prevent his extradition to Turkey.

For more detailed information about these risks supporters of the Gulen Movement experience, please look at the report prepared by the Advocates of Silenced Turkey on the current and possible threats supporters of the Gulen Movement face abroad titled “I Cannot Say We Are Absolutely Safe Even Abroad.”

Download the report as pdf: https://silencedturkey.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/AST_Report_Threats_Gulen-Movement.pdf

We urge everyone to take action. Express your views or send attached statement below to following relevant individuals and organizations.

Download sample statement as a word document: AST_letter_Mustafa Ceyhan

1) Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan
Email: [email protected]
Fax: (0099412) 492 35 43, 492 06 25
Twitter: @presidentaz
Website: https://en.president.az/administration/contacts

2) Elin Suleymanov, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to the United States
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
Phone: (202) 337-3500
Fax: (202) 337-5911
Twitter: @ElinSuleymanov
Website: http://washington.mfa.gov.az/content/6

3) U.S. Embassy Baku
Phone: 994 12 488-3300
Fax: 994 12 488-3330
Twitter: @USEmbassyBaku

4) U.S. Department of State
Email: https://register.state.gov/contactus/contactusform
Phone: (202) 647-6575
Twitter: @StateDept
Website: https://www.state.gov/

5) United Nations Human Rights Council (UN HRC)
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (+41) 22 917 9656
Twitter: @UN_HRC
Website: www.ohchr.org/hrc

6) Human Rights Watch
Twitter: @hrw
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HumanRightsWatch
NY Address:350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA
Tel: +1-212-290-4700
Fax: +1-212-736-1300

Emma Daly, Communications Director
Tel: +1-212-216-1835
Fax: +1-212-736-1300

7) Human Rights Foundation
Twitter: @HRF
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/humanrightsfoundation/
New York Address:350 5th Ave., #4515 New York, NY, 10001
Phone Number: (212) 246-8486

8) Freedom House
Twitter: @FreedomHouseDC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreedomHouseDC
[email protected]
Phone: 202-296-5101
Fax: 202-293-2840

Annie Boyajian, Advocacy Manager
[email protected]

6) Amnesty International
Twitter: @amnestyusa
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amnestyusa
[email protected]

7) International Federation for Houman Rights
Twitter: @fidh_en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FIDH.HumanRights
FIDH AT THE UN (NEW-YORK)
110 East 42nd street, Suite 1309 NY 10017 New-York
Phone Number: 001 646 395 7103

9) International Court of Justice
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (+31) 70 302 23 23
Fax: (+31) 70 364 99 28
Twitter: @CIJ_ICJ
Website: http://www.icj-cij.org/en

NEWS ARTICLES ON THIS SUBJECT:

“‘Gülenist’ businessman abducted under eyes of UN-appointed lawyers in Baku”
http://turkeypurge.com/another-gulenist-businessman-abducted-in-baku-claim

“Turkish businessman affiliated with Gülen movement abducted in Baku”
https://stockholmcf.org/turkish-businessman-affiliated-with-gulen-movement-abducted-in-baku/

“Mustafa Ceyhan, a Turkish citizen of Azerbaijan, was detained in custody – the FETO accusation”
http://ovqat.com/kriminal/19646-turkiynin-azrbaycandan-istdiyi-mustafa-ceyhan-hbsd-saxlanld-feto-ittiham.html

“Bir ‘siyah transporter’ vakası daha: ‘Bakü’de Mustafa Ceyhan kaçırıldı’” (TURKISH)
https://ahvalnews.com/tr/kacirilma/bir-siyah-transporter-vakasi-daha-bakude-mustafa-ceyhan-kacirildi

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