ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Kurdish couple were deported to Turkey and have been separated from their three children who remain in Germany in the hands of the child protection agency after being prohibited from returning with their parents, Rudaw has learned.
"We came to Germany illegally in 2023. My wife and I had one child, and we had two more children there. Since June 3, they put us in prison; we haven't seen our children since then. We are asking for our children. They haven't given us a phone call or anything, we can't even see our children online. We only want our children back,” Metin Kaya, the children's father, relayed to Rudaw’s Zinar Shino.
"We have three children: Qumri Kaya (3 years old), Agid Kaya (2 years old), and Lavin Kaya (6 months). I want my own children. How can a child be separated from their mother? We are powerless, we accepted everything, just give us back our children," Ozlem Aydin, the children's mother, said between sobs.
According to the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, 62,624 asylum applications were received in 2023, the second largest number after Syria.
Rudaw contacted the Ministry of the Interior of the State of Hesse in Germany for a response, which disclosed that the Office for Migration and Refugees rejected the family's asylum application at the end of 2025. In February 2026, the Frankfurt Administrative Court ruled to temporarily revoke the parents' custody rights in the best interests of the children.
Thomas Schernberg, executive director of the Refugee Council in Frankfurt, stated that "The separation of the children from their parents was not related to the deportation” and that while “the Youth Welfare Office (Jugendamt) took the children from the family in the best interests of the children,” the immigration office “decided to deport the parents, who are Turkish citizens, without considering the children's situation."
The lawyer working on the family's case told Rudaw that "The court has decided to hold a hearing between representatives of the Youth Welfare Office and the court to determine whether the three children will remain here in Germany or be sent to their parents in Turkey.”
“However, because the children do not have the right to asylum, they are also at risk of being deported," he said.
