Turkish woman in parental control struggle against Japanese husband

Özge Eğrikar - ISTANBUL

A 45-year-old Turkish woman, Sema Kobayashi, who had been beaten and thrown out of her house by her Japanese husband, Ataru Kobayashi, has now been living in a women’s shelter in Japan and waiting for the divorce and parental control trials.

“I won’t return to Turkey without taking my son,” said Sema Kobayashi in her telephonic interview with daily Hürriyet.

According to the allegations in the law case file, Sema Kobayashi, an architect, met Ataru Kobayashi, who introduced himself as a civil engineer, met on social media.

A few months later, he came to Istanbul to meet her. Friendship turned to love, and the couple decided to get married and tied the knot in 2013. A year later, their son was born.

“Later, I found out that he was not a civil engineer. But for our son’s sake, I decided to go on with the marriage,” said Sema Kobayashi, adding that during the days in Istanbul, her husband neither looked for a job nor helped in the family budget.

From there on, the violence began, according to the allegations.

“He assaulted my daughter many times,” said Nadide Tekin, Sema’s mother.

After some time, Ataru Kobayashi went back to Japan, leaving his wife and son in Istanbul.

But then he got seriously ill, suffering from renal failure, diabetics, and a bad heart condition.

When Sema Kobayashi heard this news, she did not hesitate to fly to Japan with her son to be near her husband in his times of need.

“She left her job that she was working for 20 years. She spent all her savings for her husband’s hospital charge,” said Taylan Gökmen, Sema Kobayashi’s lawyer in Istanbul.

“As soon as he got well, he cheated her with another woman. When Sema Kobayashi learned about this, he beat her and kicked her out from the house,” added the lawyer.

Sema Kobayashi is now in a women’s shelter in Japan, living an isolated life. “The ex-architect is now working in a factory as an unqualified worker,” noted her lawyer.

According to the Turkish lawyer, the Japanese government has backed the woman, arranging three Japanese lawyers in her divorce and parental control trial in Japan.

“That man ruined my daughter’s life. I worry about her,” added Tekin in tears.

“I am far away from my mother for a year. I miss her so much. I am mentally depressed,” expressed Yahya Ege Umay, Sema Kobayashi’s 17-year-old son from her first marriage, who is now living with her grandmother.

Sema Kobayashi decided to stay in Japan, waiting for the parental control trial to fight for the custody of her son.

“I will take custody of my son and come back to Turkey with him.”