Brazilian MPs to visit Turkey over indigenous children kidnapped by Islamic cult

Duvar English

A parliamentary delegation from Brazil is planned to travel to Turkey in order to inquire about the so-called religious education activities carried out by the radical Islamist cult Süleymancılar in Amazon villages and the incident of six indigenous children being kidnapped to dormitories in Turkey.

Members of the sect first took children from poor families living in Amazonian villages on Brazil's border with Colombia to a city 950 km away by “acquiring signed documents from the parents.” The cult in February 2022 brought six of the children, who were given "boarding religious education" in the city for three years, to Turkey and placed them in "dormitories" in Kütahya and Mersin provinces. 

Brazilian parliamentarians will visit the cult’s dormitories where children have been staying, according to online news outlet Artı Gerçek.

The MPs are also planning to meet with diplomats on the issue of how the cult brought minors to Turkey using "education visas." They also want to learn about the legal basis on which children have been held in Turkey for two years.

Although the parents gave the cult members a document authorizing them to take their children to a city inside Brazil for training, Interpol says it is illegal to “use signed documents to take children out of the country.”

According to the Brazilian Embassy in Ankara, the date of the delegation's arrival in Turkey has not been finalized yet. 

Brazilian diplomats also raised the issue at a United Nations (UN) meeting in Vienna in June. In the meeting, Brazilian authorities stated that both local police and Interpol considered the case in the context of "international human trafficking.” They also request that the UN should be a mediator with the Turkish authorities.

Süleymancılar are infamous for failing to prevent sexual and physical abuse in their facilities and even had some courses shut down as a result.