Turkish Family Stranded in Saudi Arabia for 8 Months After Kaaba Dispute

An Eskişehir family visiting Saudi Arabia for the Ramzan umrah has spent eight months stranded abroad following a minor dispute inside the Grand Mosque in Mecca.

The Ünlüce family traveled to Mecca on Feb. 17 to perform religious observances. On the 24th day of their visit, during morning prayers at the Kaaba, a brief altercation broke out after family members objected to a police officer stepping on their prayer rugs.

Following the incident, police detained the family members and brought them to a local station. Authorities filed charges after the police officer claimed the family used physical violence against him.

Mother Havva Ünlüce, 61, along with her daughters Semra Karakaya, 39, and Hediye Ünlüce Sırakaya, 25, spent four days in custody. Her son Serdar Ünlüce, 34, remained detained for 48 days.

Authorities released the family pending trial but imposed a strict travel ban preventing them from leaving Saudi Arabia. Following five separate court hearings, the local court handed down prison sentences of five months to Serdar Ünlüce and three-month sentences to the mother and daughters. The family is currently awaiting a ruling on their appeal through the Saudi istinaf (appeals) court.

Family Details Months of Stranded Life and Legal Appeal

Real estate consultant Serdar Ünlüce described the ordeal as an eight-month nightmare and insisted the incident was fundamentally misunderstood by the court. He stated that he never struck any officer, explaining that he acted purely out of a protective instinct when he saw the officer near his mother.

Serdar Ünlüce
Yemin ediyorum polise vurma yok, sadece anneme zarar vereceğini düşünerek, onu koruma refleksiyle sağ elimle tuttum. Olay sadece bundan ibaret. Basit bir tartışmanın nasıl bu noktaya geldiğini biz anlamadık, şaşkınız gerçekten. O süreçte karakola götürüldüğüm esnada bana kaba davranan o polis memuru, daha sonra yanıma gelerek af diledi ve helallik istemişti.

Ünlüce emphasized that the officer involved later apologized to him at the station. However, the legal penalties and ongoing travel restrictions have kept the entire family abroad since February.

Impact on Relatives and Consular Support

The unexpected delay has placed a heavy emotional and logistical toll on the family members in both Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Serdar Ünlüce noted that his elderly mother suffers from hypertension and diabetes, while his younger sister celebrated her wedding just two years ago, with eight months of that marriage spent waiting out the legal process abroad.

Serdar Ünlüce
Sekiz ay oldu. Annemin yaşı 61 ve kendisinde şeker ile tansiyon rahatsızlıkları bulunuyor, ayrıca benim üç çocuğum varken ablamın da üç evladı var; kız kardeşim ise henüz iki yıllık evli olup bu birlikteliğin 8 ayını buralarda bekleyerek geçirdi. Hepimizin mağduriyeti var. Kızım her akşam ‘baba ne zaman geleceksin ne zaman bana sarılacaksın’ diye soruyor. Bu bir imtihan biz buna inanıyoruz ama işin uzaması bizi gerçekten çok üzüyoruz. Biz buraya ramazan umresi ve ibadet için geldik ama basit bir olay nedeniyle aylardır ülkemize, ailelerimize dönemiyoruz. Annem özellikle çok üzülüyor.

The Turkish Consulate General in Jeddah remains in close contact with the Ünlüce family as they await the final decision from the Saudi appeals court to lift their travel restrictions and secure their return to Turkey.