Students of Mehmet Akif College in Kosovo protest the arrest and deportation of their teachers in Kosovo's capital Pristina on Thursday, March 29, 2018. Kosovo police arrested five Turks working with a group of schools said to be owned by cleric Fethullah Gulen, who President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blames for an attempted coup two years ago. Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency said the Turkish intelligence agency, MIT, used a private plane to take those arrested back to Turkey. They have been handed over to the judiciary. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)

Turkish president slams Kosovo’s leader over deportations

ISTANBUL – Turkey’s president has slammed Kosovo’s prime minister for criticizing the deportations of six Turkish men who Turkey claims were supporters of a coup plotter.

Speaking Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was “saddened” that Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj had dismissed his interior minister and intelligence chief on Friday for deporting six Turkish citizens from Kosovo without his permission.

Erdogan, saying Haradinaj would “pay” for this, says “since when have you begun to protect those who work to stage a coup against the Turkish Republic?”

Turkey accuses U.S-based cleric Fethullah Gulen for masterminding the 2016 failed coup. He denies the accusations.

Five Turkish teachers and a doctor were deported from Kosovo for alleged links to Gulen in a joint operation by the intelligence services of Kosovo and Turkey.

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