Gulnora Ravshan, a journalist report from Turkey: «…to start with, they would call over the phone but say nothing, then they started threatening and now they are watching my every movement».
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| Gulnora RAVSHAN |
Gulnora RAVSHAN was born on 28 July 1966 in Tajikistan. She is a
citizen of Tajikistan, ethnic Uzbek.
She has a higher education degree. She works in the field of journalism. From January 2006 to March 2012, she was an Uzbek service
correspondent of the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
She is the mother of four
children.
Gulnora Ravshan had to leave
Tajikistan in 2013 to escape a punishment on trumped-up charges of spying for
Uzbekistan.
In February 2015, she filed a
report with the Foreigner’s Department of the City of Bursa Directorate of
Security (Emnıyat Mudurluğu yabancıler şubesı); in her report, she wrote: «On 30 January,
at about 5 o’clock in the morning, I went to a park with my children. My eldest
daughter Rushana noticed a man watching us. Soon after, I noticed that the same
man was following us.
He was wearing a brown jacket and a hat, which made it impossible to
identify him. He was dressed in dark blue jeans. When he realised that, we
noticed him, he was gone.
On 31 January, around 10:30 am, I went to a meeting with my friend, a woman
from Uzbekistan (the name is withheld here for safety reasons- AHRCA), she
lives in the city of Bursa. And on that day, on the way to this meeting, I also
noticed that the man wearing the same clothes was constantly following me at a
short distance behind me.
In addition, on 24 January 2015 Google informed me that someone was trying
to break into my email account. I can provide a copy of this report, if
necessary.
Even before the above-mentioned instances, an unknown man, saying that he
knew me and was trying to ask me what I do in Turkey and to find out the
details of my personal life, approached me. I received a few calls from him, when
I called back, he never picked up the phone.
I am in a panic, I do not know how to protect myself and my children».
On 2 February 2015, Gulnora
Ravshan filed a complaint at the Office of the General Prosecutor of Turkey
(Türkıye Cumhuriyet Savcılığı). There she was told that they have no agency
that would be specialised in affairs of foreign citizens under the protection
of UNHCR, so they consider her complaint on the same basis as others and cannot
respond in expedited manner.
Association for Human Rights in Central Asia (AHRCA) calls for provision of international
protection of Gulnora Ravshan, a refugee from Tajikistan, who is prosecuted in
the country of origin for her professional activities. And in this regard, the
AHRCA appeals for intervention of:
— The United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR);
— International Organisation
for Migration (IOM);
— agencies of internal affairs
of Turkey;
— international human rights organisations;
— the media.
