Turkish detainees in Baghdad appeal to Ankara after inmate death

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Several Turkish citizens detained at a Baghdad police station appealed to Ankara for urgent intervention in a letter on Thursday, warning that their lives are in danger due to poor detention conditions and a lack of medical care.   

The appeal comes following the death of their fellow inmate, 68-year-old Muhiyettin Kilic, a native of the Suruc district in southeastern Turkey's Kurdish province of Sanliurfa (Riha), who had been held for 19 months. 

"He was not taken to the hospital by the Interpol police; he died right before our eyes. Among us, there are seriously ill friends with stents in their hearts, we have diabetic and blood pressure patients; how many more people are they [Turkish authorities] waiting to die [before taking action]," the detainees wrote in the signed letter sent from Baghdad's Rusafa police station exclusively to Rudaw’s Mihemed Emin Demir.    

According to the detainees, Kilic suffered two heart attacks within a 12-hour period on Monday and died inside the police station after authorities failed to transfer him to a hospital.   

The prisoners explained that customs officers originally arrested Kilic over a Turkish Interpol warrant while he was legally entering Turkey with his official passport, keeping him detained for 19 months despite his insistence that he was already returning to the country voluntarily.   

"As 11 Turkish citizens, we have been left to die in police stations in Iraq for 2 to 8 years by Iraqi Interpol. The Baghdad Heavy Penal Court and the Federal Court (Supreme Judicial Council) have issued an extradition decision to Turkey. We have not committed any crime in Iraq. We have been held as captives by the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs," the letter, which was signed by nine of the detainees, read. 

The detainees also criticized the Turkish government for prioritizing the repatriation of hundreds of Islamic State (ISIS) prisoners held in Iraq while failing to retrieve the 11 inmates held under Interpol warrants, noting that the sentences for most of the group in Turkey have already expired.   

According to the letter, Iraq's deputy director of Interpol visited the prisoners on Wednesday following Kilic's death and informed them that Iraqi authorities had completed all of their legal procedures months ago, stating that Baghdad had notified Ankara but received no response from the Turkish government.   

In their concluding appeal to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, the prisoners urged Ankara to lift their Interpol Red Notices and allow them to return home by their own means if the Iraqi Foreign Ministry does not process their extradition request. They stressed that they are not members of ISIS, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), or any other organization.   

The inmates added that they have been moved between different police stations under severe conditions for the past eight years and that the Turkish embassy in Baghdad failed to respond when they reached out for medical assistance, describing their prolonged treatment as a direct violation of human rights and Interpol laws.   

The plight of Turkish nationals detained in Iraq has previously been raised in Turkey's parliament, with opposition lawmakers questioning Ankara's efforts to secure their return.

In December 2025, pro-Kurdish Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) lawmaker Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu submitted a parliamentary question to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan concerning the detention of Azad Durak, one of the signatories of Thursday's letter. Gergerlioglu asked whether the ministry had taken steps to secure his return to Turkey. Parliamentary records show that the question went unanswered.

The case of another signatory, Suleyman Surmeli, was also raised during parliamentary discussions on the foreign ministry's 2026 budget. A lawmaker said Surmeli had been arrested in Iraq in July 2024 under an Interpol Red Notice and that an Iraqi court had ordered his extradition to Turkey in December of that year, but he remained in detention.

In October 2024, Gergerlioglu also submitted a parliamentary question concerning seven Turkish nationals detained in Baghdad, citing allegations of poor detention conditions and inadequate medical care and asking what measures Ankara was taking to secure their return.

The issue has also been discussed at the diplomatic level. In July 2026, Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council President Faiq Zidan met Fidan to discuss the cases of Turkish nationals convicted or detained in Iraq. No agreement on their repatriation was announced publicly.

Iraqi authorities say a probe has been launched into the death of the Turkish inmate. 

"An investigation into the death of this Turkish citizen has begun, and the results of the investigation will determine the truth of the situation," media director of the Rusafa Police in Baghdad, Hussein Ali Mazhar, told Rudaw’s Malik Mohammed on Friday, clarifying that Kilic was wanted for murder at the request of Turkey and was on an Interpol "Red Notice." 

"The representative of the Turkish embassy is in constant contact and has received all necessary information,” the director added, noting that they are “in contact with international Interpol. Whenever the legal and administrative procedures for their deportation and transfer are completed, they will be handed over to Turkey or the countries that are requesting them."

Mazhar stated that the prisoners had "entered Iraq in a formal and legal manner and have not committed any crimes inside Iraq,” explaining that the prisoners “are wanted on international warrants in different cases by several countries, such as Turkey, Iran, and others.”

“Some of them are wanted for crimes such as murder,” Mazhar noted, adding that due to them being foreign nationals, “they are being held in a special section for foreigners within the prison."