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.”
Pioneer Academy of Science to Move to a New Campus
The Turkish school Pioneer Academy of Science operating in Clifton, New Jersey for years is going to move into its new building in September, 2013. The school administration, in search for a new building for a long time, have announced the decision to move into a larger complex located in Wayne township of New Jersey.
Enes Kanter Education Fund to award students with scholarship
Embrace Relief, in cooperation with Mr. Kanter, will be establishing a scholarship fund for new college freshmen. As many of you know, Embrace Relief is dedicated to assisting our local communities in need and helping those who are financially struggling.
The U.S. may face a choice between geopolitical calculation and human decency
Such movements, especially if they’re Muslim, attract suspicion in the West. In 2008, the Dutch government began investigating Hizmet. Its conclusions were that the movement isn’t involved in terrorism or a breeding ground for radicalism, nor does it oppose integration of Muslims into secular states. In 2015, MLK’s alma mater, Morehouse College, awarded its Gandhi King Ikeda Peace Award to Gülen for his lifelong commitment to peace among nations. But Erdogan insists that Gülen is a terrorist.
Turkish man in Netherlands sentenced for threatening Erdogan critic
O.E., a 19-year-old supporter of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), who threatened to kill M.D. (32), a sympathizer of the Gülen movement who live in the Netherlands’ Tilburg city was sentenced by a Dutch court.
Teacher arrested after repairman found Gülen’s audio CD in computer
A Samsun teacher, identified as Osman K., was detained after a repairman found in his computer a CD that features speeches by Fethullah Gulen. The audio CD, titled Kalbin Miraci, featured faith-based sermons Gulen delivered at mosques in Turkey in the past.
The Guardian view on Turkey’s repression: stop this stalemate
Turkey’s western allies are alarmed, but against a complex geopolitical backdrop, they have chosen discretion rather than valour. After the EU parliament last week voted to freeze EU accession talks with Turkey, Mr Erdoğan lashed out by threatening to open the country’s borders to migrants heading to Europe. This is tantamount to blackmail.
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
Ex-Pentagon advisor says Turkey is heading towards civil conflict, if not civil war
