Family struggles to prove child's survival after quake mix-up

MERSİN

A family hailing from a foreign country and residing in Mersin province is embroiled in a battle to prove that their child, Bakri Abouras, who was mistakenly registered as deceased during the February earthquakes, is indeed alive.

The Abouras family was compelled to relocate to Mersin following the catastrophic disaster. However, upon returning to earthquake-hit Gaziantep province to renew their residency, they were stunned to discover that their child had been recorded as deceased in Hatay, a place they had never visited.

Frustrated by the lack of progress in their inquiries, the family has taken legal action to establish their child's living status and is now seeking assistance from the relevant authorities.

"When we visited the Presidency of Migration Management's provincial directorate in Gaziantep, we were informed that our child was listed as deceased in the records. We filed a formal petition with the directorate, emphatically asserting that our child is alive," Yaser Abouras, the father of the family, told the peculiar circumstance they encountered.

The family made the journey to Hatay after learning that their children were wrongly reported as deceased in that province. They approached the local authorities and official representatives there, but a satisfactory resolution remained elusive, as stated by the family's lawyer Hibe Gökalp.

"My son should be enrolled in school; however, they refuse to register him at present. Accessing healthcare facilities has also been denied. Moreover, due to his inaccurate status on official records, we are unable to take him abroad for the summer vacation," lamented the father, describing the hardships they have endured. "We eagerly await a resolution from the authorities."