Do President Erdoğan and Zelenskyy Know About the Persecution Turkish Citizens Face in Ukraine?

Yusuf İnan
Journalist | Political and Strategic Analyst

Are Erdoğan and Zelenskyy Hearing This Persecution?

I am a journalist and writer with nearly 30 years of experience. Over the years, I have witnessed many injustices, listened to many stories of victimhood, and seen how people can be left helpless at the doors of state institutions. But the helplessness a person feels for his own children, his own family and his own life is something entirely different.

Today, I would have liked to bring you good news from Ukraine. I would have liked to write that Ukraine treats Turkish citizens well, that it has not forgotten the support Türkiye has provided since the first day of the war, and that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s support for Ukraine in every unresolved issue has found a meaningful response.

I would have liked to say that Türkiye’s diplomacy to secure the release of Ukrainian prisoners, its efforts to bring abducted Ukrainian children back home, and its support through Bayraktar UAVs in the first days of the war created a sense of gratitude within the Ukrainian bureaucracy.

But unfortunately, that is not the case.

I did not hear this from someone else. I did not read it somewhere. I am not quoting another person.

I am living it myself.

Turkish citizens are suffering in Ukraine. Turkish citizens are being sent from door to door. We are facing a bureaucracy that wounds human dignity, tears families apart and separates children from their fathers. What I have personally experienced at the Mykolaiv Immigration Office is no longer an ordinary paperwork issue. It is clearly a humanitarian issue.

I wrote to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. I applied to the Ukrainian Ombudsman. I contacted the Kyiv Immigration Office. I sent petitions to the Office of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. But I received no result.

What happened today once again showed me how thick this bureaucratic wall really is.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine received my application. I was officially informed that my request dated May 27, 2026, was registered on May 28, 2026, under No. Ю-29354, and that the matter had been assigned to the State Migration Service of Ukraine for review. In other words, this case is now officially on the state’s record. No one can say anymore, “We did not know.”

Today, I went to the immigration office again. I was told that inquiries and letters had come from four different institutions. Yet no action was taken. My documents were still not accepted. Instead of offering a solution, they sent me back to Bashtanka once again.

Now I ask: If no action is taken even in a case that has been registered by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and referred to the State Migration Service, how is an ordinary person supposed to seek justice in this country?

I am no longer fighting only for an immigration procedure. I am fighting so that my children are not left fatherless.

The highest state offices write, files are forwarded, inquiries arrive — but the bureaucracy on the ground still closes the door.

What kind of system is this?

What kind of understanding of state discipline is this?

And most importantly: What is the fault of these children?

You appeal to the highest offices of the state, yet the bureaucracy on the ground does not hear you. It does not want to hear you. It does not accept your documents, it delays you, it wears you down. As a Turkish citizen, you are bounced from one state office to another in Ukraine like a ping-pong ball.

There are few people in Türkiye who do not know the story of baby Elif and baby Ayşe. Elif and Ayşe lived without their father for years. For eight years, they grew up longing for a father. Finally, through the efforts and support of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and First Lady Emine Erdoğan, they were reunited with their father.

But sadly, that reunion did not last long.

Today, Elif, Ayşe and Zarina are 10, 8 and 6 years old. Three little girls are living under the shadow of war. As their father, because I could not bear the thought of my children remaining in the middle of a war, I left my work, my home, my order and everything I had in Türkiye and came to Ukraine.

If I cannot take my children out of the war and bring them to Türkiye, I said, then at least I should stay by their side. As a father, what could be more natural than that?

But the Ukrainian bureaucracy acts as if there is no war in the country.

Sirens are sounding every hour, every day. People are anxious. Banks are closing. When people walk on the streets, they look up at the sky. There is fear inside homes. If not every day, then every week, drones fall on the city. Homes are destroyed, families are shattered, people are killed. Schools do not function properly. If there is education for one day, there is none for three days. Children recognize the sound of sirens more than they know the school desks.

I do not want to leave my children in these conditions. But I cannot take them to Türkiye either. So I want to stay by their side.

Yet the Mykolaiv Immigration Office sees even this as too much for me.

My documents are not being accepted. The process is not moving forward. New things are constantly being demanded from me. Doors are closing, answers are delayed, and time is running out. If I have to return to Türkiye in 10 days, Elif and Ayşe will once again be left fatherless in the middle of the war.

Now I ask:

Is this justice?

Is this children’s rights?

Is this the meaning of friendship between Türkiye and Ukraine?

My dear brother Hakan Fidan, do you not hear any of this?

We walked the same roads. We drank from the same springs. Today, as a Turkish citizen in Ukraine, I am fighting for my children. What I want is not a favor, not a privilege, not a special concession. I only want the procedure that is my right to be carried out, my documents to be accepted, and my children not to be left fatherless.

Being a citizen of the Republic of Türkiye means not being abandoned anywhere in the world. This is how we knew it. This is how we loved our state. This is how we saw our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stand by his citizens.

When I was told at the Mykolaiv Immigration Office, “Find yourself a guarantor,” I said: My guarantor is the Republic of Türkiye. My guarantor is my President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. But even those words hit a wall.

Mr. President Erdoğan, I want you to hear this voice.

Mr. President Zelenskyy, I want you to hear this voice as well.

Türkiye stood by Ukraine in its difficult days. When Crimea was occupied, the Turkish nation wept bitterly. The Republic of Türkiye did not recognize the occupation of Crimea, nor did it accept the occupation of Ukraine. President Erdoğan defended Ukraine’s territorial integrity at every opportunity. Türkiye supported Ukraine not only with words, but also in practice.

So what is this treatment being deemed fit for Turkish citizens in Ukraine today?

What kind of friendship allows Turkish citizens to be sent from door to door, families to be left helpless, and children to be separated from their fathers?

Mr. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, petitions have been sent to your office many times. Why have these petitions remained unanswered? Why is this bureaucratic mentality, which stains Ukraine’s name and damages the bridge of friendship between Türkiye and Ukraine, not being stopped?

Mrs. Olena Zelenska, together with Mrs. Emine Erdoğan, you announced to the world how Türkiye opened its doors to Ukrainian children. So who will hear the tragedy of Elif and Ayşe? Who will step in so that children are not separated from their father?

I am writing as a journalist, but today I am not only a journalist.

Today, I am a father.

I am the father of three little girls.

I am a father who does not want to leave them alone in the middle of a war.

This bureaucratic persecution against me has not been inflicted only on me. This persecution has been inflicted on Elif, on Ayşe and on Zarina. It has been inflicted on family unity. It has been inflicted on the friendship between Türkiye and Ukraine.

From here, I make a clear call:

The practices of the Mykolaiv Immigration Office must be investigated immediately. My documents must be accepted. My application must be concluded in accordance with the law. My children must not be left fatherless again.

I am waiting for President Erdoğan and President Zelenskyy to hear this voice.

Because sometimes the true greatness of states is not revealed in speeches delivered in grand halls, but in whether they can wipe away the tears of a child.

I am here for my children.

And I will not remain silent until this voice is heard.

TR

UA

Yusuf Inan

www.wisenewspress.com

Yusuf Inan is a journalist and writer. He serves as Editor-in-Chief of UAPresa.com, WiseNewsPress.com, SehitlerOlmez.com and YerelGundem.com, and specializes in strategic and political analysis of Turkish and global affairs.