Iraqi mother finds kidnapped children in Turkey

TRABZON

An Iraqi mother has reunited with her four children who were abducted and made to beg on the streets by their Iraqi father in the northeastern province of Trabzon, daily Habertürk reported on Feb. 26. 

Raed Saed Abdullah, the father of the four children, was living in the Iraqi capital Baghdad until a warrant was issued for him on charges of fraud.

Trying to escape from the jail sentence, Abdullah went to Trabzon in April 2017 with his four children, whose ages range from eight to 13.

Abdullah allegedly started to force his children to beg on the streets and live on the money he collected from his children.

He also reportedly told his children their mother died in Iraq so that they would not think about her.

But previously, their mother, Rua Alaa Mohammed, had gone to Turkey twice to find her children, only to return home empty-handed.

The children were found on Jan. 22 when one of them went to the police, telling them he was subjected to violence by his father because he refused to give him money.

Soon afterwards, Abdullah, who was allegedly spending all the money that his children made through begging on alcohol, was detained by Trabzon police.

As part of the investigation, the police discovered that the children’s mother was in fact alive and immediately contacted her.

Mohammed made it to Trabzon last week, but found out that Abdullah had hidden the children’s passports to prevent her from taking the children.

Eventually, the Trabzon Provincial Directorate of Migration Management prepared the necessary documents that would enable the children to travel. 

Mohammed managed to go back to Baghdad with her four children.

Meanwhile, Abdullah’s asylum request was allegedly rejected. He is expected to be deported from Turkey in the coming days.