Refugee mother overjoyed after reuniting with daughters
Date posted: September 29, 2018
NICHOLAS KEUNG, Immigration Reporter
Refugee Duygu Baris was faced with an agonizing decision over the fate of her children, but in the end it was a choice she didn’t have to make.
The 42-year-old Toronto ophthalmologist was reunited with her two daughters this week after a months-long separation involving multiple countries. Baris had wrestled over whether she should turn the two girls over to authorities in Germany where they had been living temporarily or send them back to Turkey, where their father is in jail for a 2016 coup attempt.
But two weeks after the Star reported Baris’ dilemma, the girls arrived in Toronto with temporary residence permits issued by Canadian officials. They will eventually be given permanent residence status, but it’s just a matter of time.
Baris was granted asylum in Canada last September and has since been waiting for permanent residence status along with permits for the daughters she was forced to leave behind in Istanbul. Despite a travel ban, the girls managed to flee to Germany this summer, but they were required to leave by Sept. 25, or be turned over to German authorities.
“I was going to take Zeynep and Hatice into hiding,” said Baris, who flew to Germany with a special refugee travel document on Monday with the plan to take the girls to Senegal, where her friends could shelter them. But she was pleasantly surprised on arrival in Berlin that they had got their visas already.
“I am so grateful to the Star and to the Canadian government for reuniting us in Canada, so we can be together in a safe place,” she said.
According to Baris’ asylum claim in Canada, both she and her husband, an internal medicine doctor, are longtime followers of the teachings of the outlawed Fethullah Gulen or Hizmet Movement, which the Turkish government has blamed for the failed 2016 coup. The couple worked at a Hizmet-affiliated hospital and their children attended Hizmet schools.
Baris claimed that after the attempted coup, her husband was arrested and charged with participating in a terrorist group. He was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in jail.
With only enough money to pay smugglers to take one person out of Turkey, she said she wasn’t about to let her daughters take the risk. Although the girls could seek asylum in Germany, they would have been placed in state care and Baris feared they could potentially be separated from their mother forever.
“There are many Turkish refugees in Canada in the same situation and separated from their families. I hope Canadian officials can use their discretion and do the same thing for them to be together,” said Baris. “I’m still missing my husband. My daughters are missing their father. Hopefully, he can join us soon.”
Joanne Dwyer, left, director of food industry relations and business development for the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York, Veysel Ucan, center, executive director of the Turkish Cultural Center Albany, and State Assemblyman Bob Reilly participate in a news conference on Tuesday at the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York in Albany. Members […]
Turkish-Kyrgyz educator’s abduction shows Ankara’s ruthless disregard for law: HRW
The abduction, forcible disappearance and extrajudicial transfer of educator Orhan İnandı to Turkey by Turkish and Kyrgyz authorities amount to egregious violations of international and domestic law, Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Istanbul Cultural Center hopes to build bridges though food
The room at the Istanbul Cultural Center just off the FSU campus is filled with both men and women and lots and lots of children. Many of the women are wearing colorful headscarves and long buttoned coats. And most of the men are their husbands, some associated with the university as teachers or students, and others who have taken time away from their own professions in Turkey to accompany their wives who are completing graduate studies here.
US under Trump still highly unlikely to extradite Gülen
National War College professor Taşpınar says extradition remains unlikely because Ankara has presented no concrete evidence directly implicating him in the coup attempt. “I think what [Washington] should do is to basically tell the Turks they need a smoking gun. They need much clearer evidence, which is not there yet,” he says
Conference highlights Turkish schools’ contribution to world peace
ESRA KOŞAR, NEW YORK Education ministers and academics from various countries highlighted the contributions to world peace made by Turkish schools inspired by internationally respected Turkish scholar Fethullah Gülen during a conference held in New York on Monday. The gathering, featuring attendees from across the world, was titled “The Peacebuilding Through Education International Conference” and […]
Growing number of Turkish citizens apply for asylum in Germany
Since the attempted coup in 2016, mostly journalists, academics, members of the opposition parties and (alleged) supporters of the Gülen movement, have been persecuted and their applications for asylum are most frequently granted.
Latest News
Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison
Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney
Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement
ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment
New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement
European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests
ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases
Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade
Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet
In Case You Missed It
Gülen appeals for steadfastness against gov’t ban on prep schools [in Turkey]
Take protests seriously, work to solve problems, Fethullah Gülen urges
Did they make mistake?
IFLC’s ‘colors of the world’ takes stage in Brazil
Hizmet will continue its mission regardless of attacks
Pacifica Institute and Redmond United Methodist come together for Interfaith dinner
CCTV shows school principal being ‘abducted’ as post-coup crackdown in Turkey spreads to Malaysia
