Father of alleged Turkish jihadist calls for son’s arrest

KOCAELİ – Doğan News Agency

A father in the northwestern Turkish province of Kocaeli, whose son is thought to have joined a jihadist group, has called on the state to find and arrest his son, fearing that he might be involved in a future suicide bombing attack. 

Bekir Uzun, the father of 19-year-old Serkan Uzun, said he was concerned that his son would become a suicide bomber for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), following the deadly blasts that killed at least 102 people in Ankara on Oct. 10. 

Stating that he has previously gone to the police, father Uzun said he also tried to make his voice heard through Republican People’s Party (CHP) Kocaeli deputy Tahsin Tarhan. 

Uzun said his son left the house on Oct. 1, saying he was “going to look for a job,” but he has not returned since then. 

Serkan Uzun was detained in Turkey’s southeastern province of Kilis, which borders Syria, after father Uzun applied to the police, but he was released on the grounds of “freedom to travel.” He then sent a message to say he was in Syria one day after he was released, according to his father. 

“My son was praying. He was brainwashed and tricked over three to four months. They brainwash our children in cell houses like shanty houses in Gebze,” Uzun said. 

“I was really worried after the blast in Ankara. When they said it was a ‘suicide bomber’ I thought it was my son. I was sad. But when the identifications were determined I understood that it was not my son. We were hurt. We do not want other families to be hurt,” he added. 

CHP deputy Tarhan said families wanted their children to be arrested so they would be in “safer places” and “under the state guarantee.” 

Tarhan also said he had spoken to the police department but could not receive information on how many families there were with children joining ISIL. He added that the CHP’s parliamentary questions about the issue had also been left unanswered up to now.