Turkey probes dancers claimed to seek asylum in Hungary

By Mehmet Yilmaz

BUDAPEST, Hungary

A number of Turkish folk dancers who visited Hungary last month but did not return have not applied for asylum, the country's asylum office said Tuesday.

In a written statement to Anadolu Agency, Hungary’s Immigration and Asylum Office denied news reports claiming that 11 folk dancers had asked Hungary for asylum while visiting the country for a dance competition.

Earlier in the day, the Chief Prosecutor's Office in Turkish capital Ankara said in a statement that it had launched a probe to investigate the incident.

Recounting the story, Hayri Gurhan Ozanoglu, the head of Turkey's Folk Dance Federation, told Anadolu Agency: "We learned that 16 folk dancers from the Ankara Children and Youth Folk Dance Association went to Hungary to take part in a festival at the beginning of November.

“Eleven of them have not come back."

The association officials went to the chief prosecutor's office in Ankara after receiving that information, he added.

Turkey’s Youth and Sports Ministry has also asked prosecutors to investigate the incident.