Not without my daughter

Turkish guards detain a Russian family with small children at the Syrian border. They were probably trying to join ISIS

On July 12, reporters learned that a Russian family from the Saratov region had been detained at the Turkish border. Guards detained 24-year-old Svetlana Ukhanova, her husband Evgeny Kochaari, and her two young children as the family attempted to cross into Syria. Officials believe that the group was trying to join ISIS. Russian authorities, Turkish lawyers, and the family’s relatives are currently working to free the couple’s children from a Turkish border facility — so far, without success. Ukhanova and Kochaari, meanwhile, say they don’t want their family to return to Russia.

In 2013, Svetlana Ukhanova left her husband, Sergey Ukhanov, and married another man named Evgeny Kochaari. The family later began living under Sharia law. Sergey Ukhanov says his ex-wife kept his surname, but adopted Islam and got remarried according to Muslim traditions. Ukhanov told Meduza that he didn’t discuss religious issues with his ex-wife, after their divorce. “I’ve never met her new husband, but we live in a small town, and my friends sometimes speak to him. They say he’s an ordinary, nice guy who’s always got a joke at the ready. But then he adopted Islam and changed completely,” he said.

Sergey’s father, Valery Ukhanov, told Meduza that Svetlana and her new husband adopted “a stricter” form of Islam. “They quit watching television and using the computer, they pulled their kid out of kindergarten, and on social media they started posting photos of people carrying guns. And she dressed herself and the kid in these awful black sheets,” Ukhanov said.

The family left Russia for Turkey in mid-June this year. Sergey Ukhanov told Meduza that Svetlana boarded a flight on June 14, accompanied by her husband Evgeny Kochaari and her two daughters, one six years old and the other just a year old. The six-year-old, Liza, is also Sergey Ukhanov’s daughter. He gave his ex-wife permission to take the girl abroad, but only until June 30. He told Meduza that his ex-wife claimed the family was only going on a short vacation.

Later, it was revealed that Turkish troops detained Svetlana and her family at the Syrian border, trying to enter the country with forged documents. This information didn’t become public until July 12, when acting regional governor Valery Radayev met with the public in Ukhanov’s hometown. Valery Ukhanov — Sergey’s father and Liza’s grandfather — raised the issue with Radayev in a room full of journalists. Ukhanov said he suspects they were trying to join ISIS.

According to Sergey Ukhanov, he and his family started worrying about Svetlana and Liza long before July 12, given that they wouldn’t respond to calls or messages after they left for Turkey on June 14. Then, a few days later, a text message arrived from Svetlana. It read, “Don’t look for us. Don’t talk to anyone.” This particularly frightened Ukhanov. Before they left for Turkey, Ukhanova and Kochaari swapped out their mobile phones for older, cheaper models. It also turns out that they only bought one-way tickets and brought their life savings with them.

At first, Ukhanov tried to find his ex-wife and daughter on his own. He flew to Turkey, but had no success. Returning to Russia, we traveled to Moscow and filed reports with the Foreign Ministry and some intelligence agencies. On July 2, Ukhanov’s parents, along with Svetlana’s mother, flew to Turkey. “We were in Istanbul, while Svetlana’s mother searched in Ankara,” Valery Ukhanov told Meduza. “Everyone was doing something to help. Soon we got information that they’d be on an airplane bound for Baku on the night of July 7.”

Sergey Ukhanov explained that this was the day Svetlana and her family were transferred from a detention center at the Syrian border to a facility in Istanbul, so they could be handed over to the Azerbaijani government. “Why exactly they were being sent to Azerbaijan, I don’t know. Probably they had forged Azerbaijani passports,” Ukhanov speculated.

Ultimately, the family wasn’t handed over to the Azeris, and was instead returned to Turkey’s deportation center on the Syrian border. Valery Ukhanov said he and other relatives were able to meet with Svetlana and her family on July 7 at the Istanbul airport. “Svetlana and her husband refused to come back to Russia with us, and they wouldn’t agree to let us take Liza home. The guards started pushing us back, and they led them away into airport’s neutral zone, accompanied by police. We made a racket and shouted everything that came to mind,” the grandfather told Meduza.

Afterwards, the family quickly bought tickets on a flight to Baku, thinking mistakenly that Svetlana and her family would be deported to Azerbaijan. Coming up empty-handed, the Ukhanovs and Svetlana’s mother returned to Russia, finding out only later that Svetlana and her family had been sent back to the detention center where they were originally held, in the Hatay Province, bordered by Syria. Learning this, Sergey Ukhanov boarded a plane for the Syrian border.

Ukhanov met with Svetlana and Liza at the detention center. He told Meduza that he managed to see his six-year-old daughter only once. It took place on July 12. When they met, his daughter explained how the family ended up in prison, and told him that she wants to remain there. Sergey Ukhanov suspects that she said this because her mother Svetlana was standing right next to her, when they spoke. Turkish officials have refused to release Liza to Ukhanov’s custody. At the time of this writing, Sergey Ukhanov has been waiting at the detention center for five days, trying to get his daughter back.

Russia’s Federal Security Service and Foreign Ministry have reached out to Turkish officials. Liza’s grandmother, Tatyana Ukhanova, told Meduza that her family has been in contact with federal agents and Kremlin officials. The Foreign Ministry and Russia’s embassy in Turkey is working to resolve the situation. Saratov state official Tatyana Zagoradnaya told reporters this week that there is a “major effort” underway to return the children to their relatives in Russia. Sergey Ukhanov says he’s also hired a Turkish lawyer to help free his daughter. “Our embassy is finally starting to help us. With our lawyers, we’re all going to the detention center,” he told Meduza on July 14. Previously, Ukhanov worried that Turkish officials might deport Svetlana and her family to some country other than Russia. “Svetlana believes that she is in danger in Russia,” her ex-husband said.

Russian text by Pavel Merzlikin, translation by Kevin Rothrock