The Tribune

OFFICIALS at the Turkish Embassy in Cuba have expressed “surprise” at the lack of communication from the Bahamas Government in the disappearance of their nationals in Bahamian waters in March of 2012.

“We want some information – any information on where these men are. But there has been nothing,” an Embassy official said yesterday. Not wanting to be officially identified, the official said they have heard “nothing” from the government in reply to their numerous requests for assistance.

“We keep requesting from them information on what has happened to these people. We have kept asking. I am surprised by the lack of cooperation,” he said.

The two Turkish nationals, Veysi Oral, and Huseyin Oskan, were working illegally in the Bahama before they attempted to be smuggled into the United States. Reportedly they had been encouraged by a local businessman in Grand Bahama who told the pair that they would be making “more money” if they were in the US.

Promising them safe passage into Miami for $6,000, the men each paid the fee and were bundled into a go-fast boat with 10 Dominicans, and seven Jamaicans on March 9, 2012. None of these men has been seen since.

In a communiqué to the Bahamas Ministry of Foreign Affairs from their offices in Havana, Cuba, on October 3, 2012, the Turkish Embassy listed the names of the individuals suspected of being involved in the smuggling operation.

“The relatives of the missing Turkish nationals believe that the persons whose names and telephone numbers are listed below are somehow responsible for the missing Turkish nationals and deem it necessary that they must be interrogated to have some evidence for the case,” the letter read.

The letter concluded that it hoped the Bahamas government would give the case its “highest consideration.”

However, said the Embassy official, to date nothing has been done with the case.