Turkish authorities are trying to determine how to handle the case of a Russian couple detained at the Turkish border with Syria as they were allegedly on their way to join the Islamic State (IS) with two young children in tow.
Svetlana Ukhanova, 24, Yevgeny Kochaari, 27, and two children were trying to get to Syria using forged documents, according to Tass, the Russian government’s news agency. Ukhanova is the mother of both children. Her 6-year-old daughter, Lisa, is from her first marriage; 18-month-old Amina is Kochaari’s daughter. It is unclear whether Kochaari and Ukhanova are legally married.
When the group left for Turkey in mid-June, Ukhanova told relatives she would visit friends and return by the end of the month. The relatives became concerned soon after because they couldn’t reach her. When she did contact them, they told the media, she asked that they not look for her or raise a fuss.
On July 12, the group was detained in Turkey’s Hatay province on the Syrian border. Sergey Ukhanov, Svetlana’s ex-husband and the father of 6-year-old Lisa, immediately went to Turkey, where he was allowed to meet with his daughter in the deportation center — but Turkish authorities initially wouldn’t let him take Lisa back to Russia. After a number of unsuccessful attempts to take his daughter home, he made a video asking Ramzan Kadyrov, head of the Chechen Republic, to help him with the cause.
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