(Zaman Al Wasl) The mother of the 3-year-old Aya Qaseer, who died recently at the hands of the Turkish gendarmerie at the Turkish-Syrian border, has appealed to the Turkish authorities to allow her to enter Turkey to be with her other children living in Turkey.
Activists are circulating a video on social media sites showing Aya’s mother. In the video, she speaks in a low and tired voice recounting the incident when she tried to enter Turkey illegally with Aya which resulted in the Turkish gendarmerie firing on them and killing Aya.
Aya’s mother confirmed that she left Turkey on June 5 during the Eid holiday, during the Eid holiday when the Turkish authorities allowed Syrians residing in Turkey to enter Syria with the guarantee they can return to Turkey on a specific day at the end of the holiday. Based on the holiday and permission, thousands of Syrians visited Syria for Eid and returned. Aya’s mother visited Syria to get some paperwork done and so she only took Aya, due to her age, with her on the trip.
However, for Aya’s mother, when she tried to cross the border back to Turkey on the appointed day, she was surprised to be informed that she was not allowed to enter Turkey on the basis her name is not in the Turkish authorities’ system. Through her relatives who reside in Turkey, she tried to get authorization to enter to be reunited with her other children who she left behind in Turkey, but all her applications and attempts were denied. Due to the circumstances, Aya’s mother was forced to resort to smugglers to enter Turkey and be reunited with her children.
She explained how Aya died in her arms after one of the gendarme shot her in the head after they reached Turkish territory. She confirmed that two other people in the same convey were also injured by the gendarmerie shooting at them. The gendarmerie who shot Aya and a colleague then forced Aya’s mother and the remaining refugees trying to cross in the convey to return to Syria. The gendarmerie did not make any attempt to save or help Aya nor did they call for any medical assistance to help the other wounded refugees.
Aya’s mother said that the smugglers who guided the convey tried to kidnap her daughter’s body to avoid being held responsible for the child’s death by the factions inside Syria. She explained that she lost consciousness at this point and awoke to find itself inside Syria with Aya’s body next to her.
It should be noted that Aya’s father was killed about a year ago in Kasr al-Bustan neighborhood in Aleppo by the regime forces after the regime air force dropped an explosive barrel close his place of work.
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