Sara Edwards’ tears represent gratitude, joy, pain and grief.
Her grief is derived from a more than five-year separation from her son, who was 26 months old when taken to Turkey by his father for a two-month visit with family in March 2010 and never returned.
Her pain is compounded by the fact that Turkish courts have essentially granted custody to her ex-husband and she has no legal remedy.
Her joy comes from the FaceTime video calls that she shares four or five times a week with her now 7-year-old son and her anticipated visits to Turkey to see him.
Her gratitude is for all of the people who have supported her.
“There are so many left behind parents who don’t have the kind of support that continues to sustain me. I can’t tell you how many people have helped me in my costly legal battle and with my expenses to visit my son in Turkey,” said Edwards, 35. “Although it’s tough to accept that my son will not be returned to me, I am thankful for the access that I have to him.”
Edwards, an Akron native, is hoping to visit her son in Turkey for his eighth birthday on Jan. 29. Her friends and employers, Jason Scala and Elizabeth Tyran, owners of Urban Eats LLC in downtown Akron, are sponsoring a raffle to help her get there.
“Despite her hardship, she manages to carry on and maintain a positive spirit,” Tyran said. “She does her best to put on a brave face, but deep down inside, she is struggling with sorrow. I know it is extremely hard for her. As her friends and neighbors here in Akron, I feel it is our duty to help her. I hope people realize that this is an ongoing effort and that any amount can help.”
The grand prize for the raffle is two tickets to see Black Keys co-founder Dan Auerbach’s band the Arcs play at the Akron Civic Theatre on Tuesday. Second and third prizes are gift baskets that include local art products. Raffle tickets are $5 each and are on sale through Friday at Urban Eats, 51 E. Market St. (in the Musica building); Crave, 57 E. Market St. and Don Drumm Studios and Gallery, 437 Crouse St.
Tickets donated
Tickets to the concert were donated by Auerbach’s father, Chuck, who is a regular at Urban Eats. The elder Auerbach, who will draw the winning raffle ticket, said when he heard about Edwards’ plight, he was moved to do something to help.
“I’m a dad. I have kids and I can’t imagine being in that situation,” Auerbach said. “We want to do anything we can to help out.”
Edwards said that she has experienced many up and downs, since she gave her then-husband, Muhammed Kiraz (a Turkish native), permission to take their son, Abdullah Eli, (whom she calls Eli) on a family visit to Turkey. At that time, the couple who had been married seven years, were separated and had an informal, written, shared-custody agreement. The agreement, she said, was a way for them to continue raising their son together while separated.
The couple married in Kent in 2003. Their son was born five years later in Pennsylvania, where Edwards was a graduate student at Pennsylvania State University.
An online transcript of a statement that Edwards made to the subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Foreign Affairs in 2011, said that she believed the agreement for equal custody signaled Kiraz’s commitment to shared parenting.
“Therefore, when Muhammed wanted to go forward with a visit to see his family in Turkey and take Eli, I did not object. I thought it would be good for them to have the support of his family during the separation. Muhammed provided me with the round-trip tickets of travel itinerary and also a signed, notarized statement promising to return with our son,” Edwards told the subcommittee, explaining that she drove them to the airport and “blew kisses and waved to Eli as Eli waved bye-bye from Muhammed’s shoulders.”
About two weeks later, Edwards said Kiraz told her that he would only bring their son back to Ohio if she declared herself an unfit parent and granted him full custody. She said that he also informed her that he had gotten a divorce.
International dispute
The next day, March 23, 2010, Edwards said she contacted the U.S. State Department’s Office of Children’s Issues; the National Crime Center, the American Embassy; the Turkish Consulate; and scores of attorneys in Turkey and the United States.
Edwards contends that the Turkish court did not have jurisdiction to grant her ex-husband custody of their son because the family lived in Ohio and residency determines which court has jurisdiction. Edwards said she won that argument in a lower Turkish court, only to have the decision overturned by a higher Turkish court in 2013. That same year, Edwards was granted a divorce in the Summit County Domestic Relations Court.
“I crashed and fell into depression after that realizing Eli would not return to me,” Edwards said. “At this point, I just want to be in his life as much as possible and continue to build a relationship with him. I’m looking at the positives. He’s happy. He’s healthy. He’s well provided for. I’m not afraid he’s in danger or unloved. I just never thought I wouldn’t be in his life every day as his mother.”
Colette Jenkins can be reached at 330-996-3731 or cjenkins@thebeaconjournal.com. She can be followed at www.twitter.com/ColetteMJenkins.