After Sweden “kidnapped” his five children, Syrian father seeks help from Turkey’s Erdogan – Middle East Monitor
A Syrian father seeks the help of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to help save his five children after they were taken by Swedish authorities and banned from meeting their parents.
Shortly after being allocated to Norrbotten County in northern Sweden in 2017 as part of the UN’s program for resettlement of refugees, Diab Talal and his family were torn apart when Swedish social services removed four of the children due to allegations of ill-treatment.
Speaking to the Turkish news media, Anadolu Agencyhe said that “We came to Sweden from a stressful road and war. When we first arrived we were depressed. They took our four children away from us based on our neighbor’s complaints. Although the investigation that followed did not find any evidence that we used violence against our children, they did not give them back to us. “
The fifth child was born last year, and was also taken from the parents immediately after the birth. Now with the youngest child at eight months and the oldest at nine years, Talal said that Swedish authorities “handed over the children to different families and forbade them to meet us”, adding that “there is no place we have not turned to. . “
#Swedens social services kidnapped the Muslim children.#sverige_är_fascistiskt_land #Sweden_kidnappar_muslimska_barn #Sweden_kidnappar_barn pic.twitter.com/78gE1g9v9T
– Rehab (@ Rehab2916) February 12, 2022
The father now calls on the Turkish president to help solve his family’s difficult situation, emphasizing that “there is only one God, and Erdogan left, who can help us. I call Turkey, I call Erdogan, I call the whole world. We want our children. “
Amal Sheikho, Talal’s wife, also said she had not seen her first four children in four years. “They took min [fifth] children from me five minutes after I gave birth in the hospital. I have not seen a picture or photograph of my other children in four years. Think of the mood of a mother whose five children have been taken from her. “
Their situation does not seem to be isolated, as other Muslim refugee families have also had their children taken care of by Sweden’s social services over the years, based on incorrect or deficient accusations of abuse or inability to care for children.
Sweden kidnaps displaced children in a phenomenon that is a form of addiction, oppression and underdevelopment# Häggström#Sweden_kidnappar_barn pic.twitter.com/H6js02Z5tB
– braIbraheem altheyab🇸🇦 (@ xllx014) February 13, 2022
Last week and on Sunday, protests were held outside the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm, where Talal and the other insulted families presented their demands to get their children back to them.
However, those demonstrations have obviously upset the authorities and Talal said that “While we shed tears for our children, we became targets in the Swedish media and were branded as ‘Islamists and terrorists’.” Such accusations seem to reflect those of the Syrian regime Bashar Al-Assad, who also labels protesters as “terrorists”.
Swedish officials have denied allegations of “kidnapping”, and the Swedish Consulate General in Istanbul is said to have said that the allegations “that Swedish social services kidnap, imprison and sexually exploit Muslim children … [are] seriously misleading and the only purpose is to create tension and spread mistrust ”.
The opinion added that while the Swedish social services’ actions are based on the country’s social services law and the principle of consent, “supplementary provisions in the Act on the Care of Young People make it possible in certain cases to decide on measures even without consent.”
READ: ‘Swedish authorities kidnap Muslim children’?