Turkey responds to Saudi family beaten up at airport

Turkey has denied reports that a Saudi mother and her children were beaten up at Istanbul Airport, saying the woman’s 21-year-old son caused a scuffle with security men after insisting on going into an area assigned for the handicapped.

Taha Ganji, adviser to the Turkish Prime Minister, said he himself went to the airport after the incident and checked security cameras.

He said the cameras showed that the family entered a passport security area designated for the handicapped and were told by the police to use another counter.

In statements carried by ‘Ajel’ and other Saudi newspapers on Monday, Ganji said the woman’s eldest son refused to leave and that a scuffle ensued.

“There was a fight between that man and a security man. Police then came and took the Saudi man to the police centre at the airport.

The film is very clear and I could not see any assault on the Saudi woman,” he said.

He said the Saudi family’s lawyer had filed a lawsuit in Istanbul against the security men and that Turkey’s interior minister has ordered a probe into the incident.

Family beaten up

A Saudi woman and her teenaged sons were assaulted and beaten up by security men at Turkey’s Istanbul airport before the boys were arrested for at least one day, a newspaper in the Gulf Kingdom reported on Sunday.

‘Sada’ Arabic language daily carried pictures showing bruises on the limbs, faces and other parts of the bodies of two boys.

It quoted the father, who was waiting outside the airport, as saying the incident took place on Wednesday, when many security men suddenly jumped out of their seats and attacked the mother and her two sons.

The father said the men assaulted his family after his wife stood by mistake in an area assigned for the handicapped, adding that they beat up his two sons after they tried to intervene to stop them from assaulting their mother.

“Three men attacked  and beat up my 14-year-old son and his younger brother. Seven others joined them later and started to swear at them  saying ‘Saudis… Saudis’. Some passengers tried to stop the security men,” he said.
“They then handcuffed my sons and took them away When my wife saw this, she collapsed on the floor.”

The father said he was not allowed to see his sons despite attempts by the manager of the Saudia Airlines at the airport.

“They released them the next day after contacts by the Saudi embassy.
“When I saw them, I found that they had been beaten up and insulted . I don’t know why all this hatred for the Saudis.”

 

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