A Yazidi child rescued from ISIS captivity in Turkey was placed under the guardianship of a family linked not only to the same militant group, but to the child’s original abductor, in an astonishing court decision made on 16 March 2023. This ruling, brought to light by lawyers in November, has raised serious concerns.
The child’s case has been under intense scrutiny since 2021, when Ankara police rescued her from an ISIS cell, sparking multiple legal battles over her guardianship. In 2022, the ISIS-linked family sought custody, claiming in court that they had adopted the girl in Iraq. However, the Family Court rejected their claim, identifying the child as a Yazidi who had been abducted by this same family. Despite being implicated in a human trafficking investigation, the family persisted in their bid for guardianship, ultimately succeeding in March 2023.
The child, initially trafficked to Turkey by ISIS members and later rescued by police, has been under state protection in a government care facility since October 2023, following public outrage when she was found to be living with the family again. However the court decision to grant custody to the family was never made public.
Speaking to Artı Gerçek’s Hale Gönültaş on Sunday, lawyer Erselan Aktan, representing the Yazidi child’s biological family, criticised the choice of guardian of Ankara Civil Court No 8. “It is deeply troubling that guardianship [of the child] was assigned to a family member of her abductors,” he said, highlighting procedural failures and explaining that the court should have appointed an independent lawyer and member of the bar as the child’s guardian.
“The court failed to consider the child’s best interests, disregarding crucial details, including the Family Court’s original denial of custody due to the applicant’s ISIS affiliations,” he continued. Aktan also questioned the procedure and mentality of a system which can return a child abducted by ISIS and put up for sale on the dark web by her kidnappers.
Meanwhile, an Iraqi Yazidi woman recently travelled to Ankara to provide a DNA sample to prove she is the child’s biological mother. Test results are expected in January 2025, and may impact the guardianship decision.
