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.”
Erdoğan’s Fight against the Gülen Movement & The Demise of Turkish State Rationality
In a nutshell, Erdoğan’s divisive political rhetoric and his attempts to foster anti-Gülenist sentiments have perfectly served his own political interests within the country, but they have not served the country’s interests in the international arena, as they raise serious doubts about the credibility and rationality of the state as embodied in Erdoğan’s personality.
U.S. Not Persuaded to Extradite Fethullah Gulen Over Turkey Coup
Officials aren’t convinced by evidence against Fethullah Gulen, Pennsylvania-based imam who Turkey says masterminded the failed putsch. U.S. officials don’t expect to extradite an imam Turkey blames for masterminding a failed coup because they aren’t convinced by the evidence Ankara has presented so far and are troubled by threatening public statements from Turkish officials, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Turkey, The great purge – Four lives upturned by Erdogan’s ‘cleansing.’ Episode 1 – Asli
All Mrs. Asli knows are the values she has embraced and she can’t see any problems with the humanist vision of Islam she endorses. “I recognise Gulen’s values in the morality of Islam, in the lives of Moses, Jesus and the Prophet Mohamed. Our values tell us never to hurt people, but to help them.
An Indian professor’s reflections on Erdogan’s visit to India, crackdown on Gulen movement
There has been no evidence of any terrorist activity by the followers of Gulen in any part of the world including Turkey. In India, they have been running their institutions: schools, coaching Institutes, and dormitories for more than 15 years, but none has been accused of any kind of terrorism and crime.
Pro-Erdoğan journalist: Gülen followers should be kept in detention camps, given food tickets
Cemil Barlas, a staunch supporter of Tayyip Erdoğan and commentator for the pro-government A Haber TV, said during a program that followers of the Gülen movement, which the government accuses of being behind a failed coup on July 15, must be kept in detention camps and should be given food tickets.
ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on Monday rejected an appeal by the Turkish government to refer to the Grand Chamber its ruling that allows the retrial of 239 people convicted on terrorism charges for alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement, the Stockholm Center for Freedom reported, citing Turkish media. Turkey’s appeal challenged the ECtHR’s […]
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
Turkey’s political weather forecast
Islamic scholar Gülen offers condolences for those killed in Dağlıca attack
Think Twice on Turkey: Erdogan’s Purges Are a Warning to Washington
Two volunteers of Gülen Movement reportedly abducted after released by Azerbaijani Court
Abant Platform raises support for EU process, criticism for parties
