British/Turkish

[stardycb]

Can anybody give me some advice regarding my son, he is 7 months old I am british and his father is Turkish. His dad is here on a 2year settlement visa which expires in April 08. We were split before he was born.
My son has a British Passport and his dad is named on his birth certificate.
My question is his Dad has said to me the first time I set foot in Turkey I wont be allowed to return with my son as all my sons rights are transferred to him on Turkish soil. I dont think this is true and will certainly have it checked properly but just thought I would make this my first port of call.
His dad sees him approx 1 a month for half an hour and does not contribute financially to his upkeep, but has on occasions threatened to take him back to Turkey.
My reason for wanting to go to Turkey is that I have lots of |British family living there but I would never risk losing my son.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

[sakura]

I suggest you get a lawyer who knows about Turkish family laws for this. I doubt there'd be many people in this forum who knows about Turkish law, unless they are/have links to Turkish/Turkey themselves.

I don't get it though.....the father is still in the UK on a settlement visa (spouse visa?), not in Turkey? If you've split up why is he still here? Is his visa dependent on your relationship, or something/someone else? Secondly how would the Turkish authorities know about you and him, if your sone has a British Passport? Unless his father has applied for something in Turkey and would be flagged up when you arrive there? Thirdly, how can visiting Turkey over-ride your rights as guardian if you live in the UK? How can Turkish law over-ride British law in the UK?

I suggest you might want to take his threats seriously, and maybe see a family lawyer about protection rights (better safe than sorry).

[stardycb]

Hi Thanks for that, I did tell immigration when we split as he did indeed take his visa as my spouse, nothing has ever come of it. He has said that he has applied for a Turkish Kimlik card for our son, I think he is lying as I have the birth certificate and to my knowledge there hasnt been a duplicate requested.
I will seek a lawyers advice and make sure that everything will be ok.

[JAJ]

Can anybody give me some advice regarding my son, he is 7 months old I am british and his father is Turkish. His dad is here on a 2year settlement visa which expires in April 08. We were split before he was born.
My son has a British Passport and his dad is named on his birth certificate.
My question is his Dad has said to me the first time I set foot in Turkey I wont be allowed to return with my son as all my sons rights are transferred to him on Turkish soil. I dont think this is true and will certainly have it checked properly but just thought I would make this my first port of call.
His dad sees him approx 1 a month for half an hour and does not contribute financially to his upkeep, but has on occasions threatened to take him back to Turkey.
My reason for wanting to go to Turkey is that I have lots of |British family living there but I would never risk losing my son.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

Strongly, strongly recommend you get in touch with Reunite to discuss your situation:
http://www.reunite.org

Turkey is signed up to the Hague and European conventions on child custody, so in theory a Turkish court should respect United Kingdom child custody law. However there may be problems with this in practise.

Also bear in mind that if your child is also a Turkish citizen, the ability of the British Embassy to provide consular assistance and representations may be limited.

[Christophe]

Turkey is signed up to the Hague and European conventions on child custody, so in theory a Turkish court should respect United Kingdom child custody law. However there may be problems with this in practise.

There may well be problems in practice, and - in any case - I don't imagine that the original poster really wants to get involved with the Turkish legal system over custody of her son while she's in Turkey, even if the courts do prove to respect the UK child custody arrangements.

So get plenty of proper advice before making any trip is the general tenor of the remarks here, and good advice that is too.

[John]

My reason for wanting to go to Turkey is that I have lots of |British family living there but I would never risk losing my son.

Suggest you certainly don't go to Turkey until the legal position is sorted out ..... and if any doubt at all .... you don't go to Turkey! After all, you can meet your British family elsewhere in the world.