75 years on, Kosovar family reunites in Turkey

YOZGAT - Anadolu Agency

Hayrettin Boyacı, 55, from the Kosovar city of Prizen, prays at his mother’s grave in Yozgat, fullfilling his late mother’s final wish. AA photo

A Kosovar man has managed to find his long-lost relatives in the Anatolian province of Yozgat, after his uncle left Kosovo for Turkey in search of brighter employment prospects in 1938.

Hayrettin Boyacı, 55, from the Kosovar city of Prizen, found his uncle, thus fulfilling his late mother’s final wish. Nesip Uslu, Boyacı’s uncle, came to Turkey in 1938 at the age of 19, subsequently losing ties with the rest of his family who had stayed behind in Kosovo.

“My uncle was brought to Turkey for employment opportunities by my aunt’s husband in 1938. My aunt’s husband returned to Kosovo. They then lost contact. My mother, Vezire Boyacı had told us to find our uncle as her last wish before she died in 2003,” said Boyacı.

He took a flight to Ankara and told his story to Atilla Geylan on the plane. Geylan found out that Nesip Uslu’s son Ömer Uslu was living in Yozgat. Upon learning the whereabouts of Ömer Uslu, Boyacı travelled to the village where Uslu lived to meet with him for the very first time.