Faye Jones, a British schoolgirl who went missing while on holiday with her mother in Turkey, is believed to be on the run with Turkish waiter Murat Can Ertani.
Faye Jones, 16, from Cramlington, Northumberland, has not been seen for three days since she fled with Murat Can Ertani, 22, in the popular coastal resort of Marmaris.
Her mother, Rhonda Jones, has been frantically searching for her ever since, but fears she may never see her again.
Turkish police say Murat Can Ertani is a criminal and has spent time in jail.
“This is my worst nightmare. She’s my only child and I’m a single parent. I never imagined she would run away,” she said.
Faye and Rhonda Jones flew over to Marmaris on June 27 to visit her grandmother who is retired and lives among the ex-pat community.
The schoolgirl was to be allowed to stay with her throughout the summer as a reward for working hard towards her GCSEs (General Certificate of Secondary Education).
According to Rhonda Jones, Murat Can Ertani was already waiting for her. The pair had met when the family visited the same resort on holiday last year.
Rhonda Jones, 39, told the Sunday Mirror she knew they had become friends on Facebook but that it was “nothing serious”.
Faye Jones, who went missing while on holiday with her mother in Turkey, is believed to be on the run with Turkish waiter Murat Can Ertani
“Faye’s not been into boys,” she told the newspaper.
“She’s been studying for her GCSEs at home and sometimes I have had to prize her out of her bedroom at home.”
The friendship was allowed to continue on the basis that Faye Jones was never alone with Murat Can Ertani.
But Rhonda Jones said things turned sour after an incident in a bar when Murat Can Ertani allegedly slapped Faye’s friend Georgina.
Mother and daughter argued and Rhonda Jones was so alarmed she decided to call off the summer stay. She told Faye she would be returning home her.
But unbeknown to Rhonda, Faye was still staying in touch with Murat Can Ertani via text. She waited until her mother took a last trip to the swimming pool before they caught the bus to the airport and then fled.
Rhonda Jones said as she ran out of the hotel she could see her daughter getting into a green car. She chased it down the street but was unable to catch up and Faye disappeared.
Turkish police were alerted and Faye Jones was spotted a few hours later in a shopping plaza, but when officers gave chase the couple escaped, dumping the schoolgirl’s suitcase in the process.
Rhonda Jones said she has spent every waking moment searching for her missing daughter.
She told the Sunday Mirror: “I just want Faye to know she’s not in trouble and to remind her how very much I love her. I have to know she’s OK. I’m desperate for her to come back home.”
More than 30 Turkish police officers are said to be on the case and the family have been putting missing person posters up around the resort.
The governor of Marmaris says authorities are doing all they can and are working round the clock to find Faye Jones.
The British Consulate is also offering support but Rhonda Jones says she feels she is battling on her own.
“I’ve been out day and night – I’ve never slept and I’m not hearing nothing,” the mother added.
Turkish police have pulled out of Istanbul’s Taksim Square which has become the focus of the largest anti-government protest in years.
Thousands of people are in Taksim Square after days of unrest sparked by plans to redevelop nearby Gezi Park.
In recent days police have fired tear gas and water cannon several times to break up the demonstrations.
PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said police may have used excessive force but that the park development will go ahead.
Earlier on Saturday, he called for an end to the protests, saying Taksim Square “cannot be an area where extremists are running wild”.
In a defiant speech to the exporters’ union, Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted plans to reconstruct an Ottoman era military barracks on the Gezi Park site would go ahead and that a shopping mall “might be built on the ground floor or a city museum”.
The protesters say the park is one of the few green spaces left in Istanbul, and that the government is ignoring their appeals for it be saved.
Their protests initially began as a sit-in in the park, but erupted in clashes on Friday as police fired tear gas to try to clear them out.
Correspondents say that what was initially a local issue has spiraled into widespread anti-government unrest and anger over the perceived “Islamisation” of Turkey.
Thousands of people are in Taksim Square after days of unrest sparked by plans to redevelop nearby Gezi Park
One woman told Agence France-Presse: “They want to turn this country into an Islamist state, they want to impose their vision all the while pretending to respect democracy.”
Another, Oral Goktas, said the protest had brought together people from many different backgrounds.
“This has become a protest against the government, against Erdogan taking decisions like a king,” she told Reuters news agency.
The perception that police had been heavy-handed by firing tear gas and water cannon – a view adopted by many of the country’s mainstream media – also fuelled the unrest. Dozens of people have been injured in the clashes.
Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper quoted police as saying 138 people were in custody.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said there had been “some mistakes, extremism in police response”, while the authorities have insisted that any allegations of abuse of power by the police will be investigated.
In an apparent bid to reduce tensions, police and riot vehicles were withdrawn from the square on Saturday afternoon, and barricades removed, allowing thousands of people to enter the square.
The scene in the central square appeared to be peaceful, with protesters chanting slogans, dancing and waving banners, some calling for the government to resign.
However clashes continued in the Besiktas district of the city to the east.
Police were using tear gas and water cannon to hold back protesters near the Shangri-la hotel.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been in power since 2002 and some in Turkey have complained that his government is becoming increasingly authoritarian.
His ruling AK Party has its roots in political Islam, but he says he is committed to Turkey’s state secularism.
The US has expressed concern over Turkey’s handling of the protests and Amnesty International condemned the police’s tactics, saying: “The use of violence by police on this scale appears designed to deny the right to peaceful protest altogether and to discourage others from taking part.”
In his speech, Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized the “preaching” of foreign governments, saying they “should first look at their own countries”.
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Turkish police have used tear gas and water cannon against protesters occupying Gezi Park in central Istanbul.
Scores of people have suffered injuries, several of them when a wall collapsed during a police chase.
Demonstrators had been camping since Monday in Gezi Park, angry at plans to develop it as part of a revamp of Taksim Square, in which it is situated.
Many protesters also expressed discontent with the government of PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been in power since 2002 and some in Turkey feel that his government is becoming increasingly authoritarian.
Last week, Turkey’s parliament approved legislation restricting the sale and consumption of alcoholic drinks.
The regulations would prohibit retail sales between 22:00 and 06:00, ban all alcohol advertising and promotion, and stop new shops and bars from opening within 100 m (330 ft) of schools and mosques.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he wanted to stop young Turks from “wandering about in a state of inebriation” and was not trying to impose Islamic values.
Turkish police have used tear gas and water cannon against protesters occupying Gezi Park in central Istanbul
The prime minister’s Justice and Development (AK) Party has its roots in political Islam, but he says he is committed to Turkey’s state secularism.
Opponents to Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s plans to re-develop Gezi Park say it is one of the few green areas left in central Istanbul.
One banner at Friday’s protest included a cartoon of Recep Tayyip Erdogan dressed as an Ottoman sultan with the slogan: “The people will not bow down to you.”
“We do not have a government, we have Tayyip Erdogan,” political scientist and protester Koray Caliskan told the Reuters news agency.
“They are not listening to us,” he added.
“This is the beginning of a summer of discontent.”
Hurriyet Daily News reported that seven of those wounded in the clashes with police had serious injuries, including a broken leg and head injuries.
A journalist was hit in the head with a tear-gas canister and Hurriyet‘s own photographer was injured, it added.
Amnesty International condemned the use of what it called “excessive force” against “peaceful protesters”.
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