EXCLUSIVE
A BRITISH mum-of-four who left Turkey over work permit issues has arrived back in the country she calls ‘home’.
Jill Robinson, speaking exclusively to Voices, said she and her four children – Sami 11 years, Dylan 8 years, two-year-old Ella and 1-year-old Deniz, were delighted to have been allowed into the country to be with her partner and their father, Servet.
Jill, who ran Altinkum Premier Cleaning and Maintenance, was issued with a 30-day deportation notice, fined 765TL, and the business fined 7,500TL after authorities discovered she was working without a work permit – she believed she didn’t need. Despite her protestations she was forced to leave the country back in mid-June.
She said: “Returning back to England and enduring 11 weeks there was hell. It was horrific, because I was living with this constant fear of uncertainty – do I need to get the children into English schools, what will happen to us in the long run and many other questions.”
She then had to submit a mountain of paperwork – about 180 pages of evidence of medical and school-related reports on behalf of her children – to establish to the Turkish Embassy in London that their home was in Turkey.
“Then we had the attempted military coup on July 15 and that delayed things, and then we had to wait for the final decision to be allowed back into the country.
“I had to justify my life here in Turkey and prove I wasn’t a tourist simply wanting to stay for the summer.”
She said: “When we stepped back off that plane back in Turkey two weeks ago it felt as if I had returned home. Since then, everything has been calm, Servet is over the moon to have the family back and we are just appreciating every day as it comes.
“I have lost track of time and staying under the radar. I am just enjoying the small things in life, like looking out the window at the countryside and the kids’ joy of being back here.
“We’re a family once again and we are intending it to stay that way.”
She has since applied for her residence permit and is awaiting that outcome.