Featured Image Credit: Kennedy News and Media
Topics: Sex and Relationships, Real Life
Ali Condon
A lovestruck mum is being forced to defend her relationship to her friends, who think her partner only wants to be with her for a visa.
Amy Ugurlu met her husband during a girls' holiday to Turkey back in July 2020, and the pair hit it off right away.
The 34-year-old had been on holiday after a tough break-up, but when she met a 'handsome' man called Mahsum at a bar, she knew she had found something special.
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When she got home from her trip, Amy decided to add Mahsum on Facebook - and it wasn't long before a long-distance relationship was formed.
Amy managed to visit Mahsum, 25, in Turkey twice before Covid lockdown rules put the country on the red list and they were separated for eight months.
Eventually, Mahsum made the move to Scotland in February 2022.
The couple were so tired of waiting that they decided to 'skip the engagement part' and tie the knot that September in Kusadasi, Turkey.
Speaking about the magical day, Mahsum said: "Celebrating our wedding was like a dream - Kurdish and Scottish people came together as one big family.
"My family travelled 24 hours on a bus from Cizre to Kusadasi and my in-laws flew from Scotland and England to Turkiye."
Amy claims she's found her 'dream man', but her friends aren't so sure.
"I'd tell others who may be entering a similar situation that you need to have a lot of patience, because it can be very hard," she said.
"I've lost friendships over it just by people being so judgemental and thinking 'oh, he's a typical Turk' but here we are three years later."
Amy is also getting hate online, after posting about her relationship on TikTok.
She said: "At first it used to get to me when people would make silly comments like that and now it goes in one ear and out the other, I've grown that thick skin.
"I think 'please go and educate yourself on how hard it is to get a visa' as they think that once they're in the country that's it.
"But after two-and-a-half years he has to apply for an extension of his visa, then after another two-and-a-half years for indefinite leave to remain.
"If anyone told me that I was going to go back to Turkey, meet someone and marry them within a year, I would have told them 'not a chance', but with him it was just so different."
Mahsum assures that he really does believe Amy is 'the one'.
"What drew her to me was her beautiful smile, blue eyes and lovely pale skin," he said.
"I knew she was the one because the feelings I have for her are different from what I ever felt with anyone else."
The happy couple are making plans to visit Mahsam's family in Kusadasi next month and are currently trying for a baby.