Ahmet Kara, who lives in the Pamukkale district of the Aegean province of Denizli, met Nel Mawati, who was living in a village in Indonesia's Riau, on social media in 2018.

The duo communicated with the help of Google Translate for seven months on social media, which was followed by Kara heading to Indonesia to get married. Kara told Demirören News Agency that he took out a loan to make the trip possible.

Kara and Mawati then returned to Turkey's Denizli in April 2019 and got married. The couple communicated with the help of Google Translate throughout their marriage. 

Mawati returned to Indonesia four months after getting married, but didn't divorce the man. Kara said that his wife wanted to go back because her son was in a car accident. He noted that he paid for her flight.