Turkish boys will see jailed mothers today
Two young Turkish boys will today be able to see their mothers in person again, eight days after being separated when a court jailed the women for six months for using forged travel documents. Akif Yavuz, who turns three next week, and Sina Deneri, 4, will be reunited with their “anne” – the Turkish word for “mummy” – for several hours today. They will meet “in a safe and adequate environment for the children”, according to a spokesperson for the child protection services within government support agency Appoġġ. Until now, the boys have only been allowed daily virtual calls with their mothers, Rabia Yavuz, 27, and Muzekka Deneri, 29. The mothers say they only used forged papers to avoid repatriation to Turkey, from where they fled in the aftermath of an attempted 2016 coup. Malta’s courts have faced heavy criticism for the sentence, which NGOs and experts say breaks the Geneva Convention and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The children’s fathers are in daily contact with their wives but have so far not been able to speak to their sons. Musa Deneri said his wife told him that the authorities were treating them and the children very well. “They [the children] are...