ANKARA: A Filipina mother has allegedly been forcibly separated from her 13-month-old daughter and expelled from Turkey in the crackdown against a failed coup in which she apparently had no part.
Identified as Karen Lim, the mother reportedly first was jailed without charges, then taken away from her infant to a migrant camp, prior to summary deportation, reported Turkish-language Sozcu newspaper.
The banishment was set for last Sunday, Nov. 13. Karen’s Turk husband or in-laws were not informed by her transfer, Philippine Star quoted the report.
Karen’s whereabouts has not been reported since, the report said.
Reports indicate the events happened in Ankara, capital of Turkey, which last July 15 dawn was rocked by a military coup that was swiftly squelched by forces loyal to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In the aftermath of the coup the Turkish government has jailed thousands of soldiers, journalists, academics and members of the so-called Gulen Movement, media reports said.
Karen had no participation in the coup and had no intention of fleeing Turkey. Before her travails began, she was in fact working to prolong her stay there as a wife of six years, new mother, and university teacher.
Apart from saying that Karen formerly worked with a television network in Manila, sources could not ascertain if the expulsion has been carried out or if Karen is still held in camp.
The Philippine embassy in Ankara is currently in search for Karen, so as the Commission on Overseas Filipinos, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration, Department of Labor and Employment, or whichever government agency has records of Karen, reported Philippine Star.
Turkish legislators reportedly tried to prevent the separation of mother and child, to no avail, the report said.
