A Pakistani singer and songwriter has revealed the heartfelt story of his late Turkish mother, whom he was reunited with after more than two decades of being apart.
Syed Yörgüç Tipu Sharif, born in 1978, was separated from his Turkish fashion model mother, Hamret Tugberk, when he was only 6 months old due to her health problems. His mother was obligated to come back to Turkey for treatment, but his Pakistani father, Syed Mushtaq Sharıf, refused to let her take the baby with her.
Ever since, Hamret Tugberk kept sending letters, cards, gifts and clothes to the Turkish consulate in Pakistan, hoping to reach out to her son.
Shariff found out the truth about his biological mother at the age of 9 after his aunt, the woman who raised him as a son, divulged the long-kept secret.
Fourteen years ago, when he was 28 years old, the Pakistani singer sent his visa documents to the Turkish consulate in Pakistan for the first time to attend a theater festival.
The consulate immediately issued his visa, informing him that they have been trying to locate him for "28 years," and Sharif traveled to Turkey, where he met the one woman who changed it all.
"She had some medical problems and my father was not patient enough to stay with her. That was a long time ago. They were young and didn’t know how to handle it. She tried to take me with her, but she couldn't because my father sent me to his sister's house," he said, adding that there remained no hard feelings.
Hamret Tugberk only spent 12 years with her son before she passed away in April 2019 from lung cancer.
