Halîme Elî (75), who came to Pirsûs (Suruç) district of Riha (Urfa) in 2014 from Kobanê city in Northern and Eastern Syria, has not heard from her 2 sons who have been detained by ISIS for 10 years. Brothers Ömer (26) and Ahmet İsmail (24) were detained by ISIS in Raqqa in September 2014 while trying to go to Damascus to work. The brothers' family learned about the incident from the driver of the bus their children were traveling on. In 2019, the father, Muhammad Ismail, traveled to northern and eastern Syria to find out the fate of his children. However, he was never heard from again. Mother Khalîme Elî has been asking for news from her children and husband for many years. 

 

HER EFFORTS YIELDED NO RESULTS 

 

Halîme Elî stated that she and her husband went to Raqqa 6 days later after they had no news from their children and that they searched for their children for 60 days in Raqqa by visiting ISIS institutions. Stating that every door they went to was closed to them, Halîme Elî said: “We asked many people, but no one gave us any information. We found the driver of the bus carrying them. He told us that the children were taken by force and that they tried to prevent it but failed. But he also said he did not know where they were taken. We gave them all our money but still got nothing. I went to a prison to find my children and was beaten by bearded men with guns and swords.”

 

'WE WAITED FOR 13 DAYS'

 

Reminding that ISIS started an attack on Kobanê while they were looking for their children, “The clashes were increasing day by day. Everyone was fleeing somewhere. We were forced to come to the Kobanê-Pirsûs border because of the war. We waited at the border for 13 days. We waited for our children to come back. They convinced us to cross to the other side of the border by saying 'your children might have gone to Turkey'. However, we could not find them anywhere” Halîme Elî said. 

 

'HER ONLY WISH IS TO RECEIVE NEWS' 

 

Halîme Elî stated that after Raqqa was taken from ISIS in 2019, her husband Muhammed İsmail crossed to Northern and Eastern Syria to find out the fate of his children and that she has not heard from her husband in the past 5 years. Khalîme Elî said that her only daughter also suffers from psychological illnesses and she continued as follows: “I was left alone. I went everywhere in Suruç and Urfa, but I did not hear from my children and my husband. My daughter keeps asking where my brothers are. For 45 days we have hospitalized her and I have been accompanying her. My only wish is to hear from my children. My son Ömer İsmail was married for 2 years and had a son. I have a grandson, but I cannot see him because he is in Kobanê.”  

 

MA / Emrullah Acar