I met my ‘dream’ husband on a girls’ trip to Turkey – but I’ve lost friends after they said he’s only with me for a visa
- Amy Ugurlu travelled to the beach resort of Kusadasi with a friend in July 2020
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A woman who jetted off on a girls’ holiday to Turkey to get over heartbreak ended up meeting her future husband – but claims she’s had to grow ‘thick skin’ to deal with cruel visa jibes by ex pals.
Amy Ugurlu, from Glasgow, travelled to the beach resort of Kusadasi with a friend in July 2020 to temporarily escape life back home after a break up.
While out in a bar a ‘handsome’ man called Mahsum Ugurlu caught the mother-of-one’s eye and the pair started chatting, but didn’t exchange contact details when they parted.
The 34-year-old said that after returning from her sun-soaked trip she stumbled across his Facebook page so added him as a friend, and 20 minutes later Mahsum FaceTimed her.
After their initial chat, the pair started dating and Amy managed to return to Turkey twice before Covid lockdown rules put the country on the red list and they were separated for eight months.
Amy Ugurlu (pictured with Mahsum Ugurlu), from Glasgow, travelled to the beach resort of Kusadasi with a friend in July 2020 to temporarily escape life back home after a break up
But the love birds were so determined to be reunited that they flew to Kyiv, Ukraine, in July 2021, before eventually bidding a tearful goodbye and returning to their home countries.
Wifi installer Mahsum, 25, made the move to Scotland in February 2022 and ‘skipped the engagement part’ of their relationship before the pair tied the knot seven months later in September.
Despite having met her ‘dream man’, the carer claims things haven’t been all plain sailing as people being judgemental has cost her friendships and forced her to grow a ‘thick skin’ online.
Despite this, Mr and Mrs Ugurlu have been going from strength to strength, and they plan to return to Kusadasi to visit family next month and are currently trying for a baby.
Amy said: ‘I didn’t expect to meet the love of my life on holiday. I split up with my little boy’s dad so a friend and I decided to go away for a little break together. It was to get over a bit of heartbreak and away from life in general in Scotland.
‘I saw Mahsum in passing in one of the bars and said to my friend “oh, he’s quite nice”. I spoke to him and asked where in Turkey he was from and so on, but nothing came of it.
‘Then I came home and was sitting looking on Facebook and I have quite a lot of friends in Kusadasi. A guy that worked in the bar was on my Facebook, so I was looking through his profile and came across Mahsum’s.
‘I thought I wasn’t going to add him but then a few nights later me and my friend had a little drink, and I thought “what have I got to lose?” so I just added him, and then 20 minutes later he FaceTimed me. And from there, it just turned into one big love story.’
While out in a bar a ‘handsome’ man called Mahsum Ugurlu (pictured on their wedding day) caught the mother-of-one’s eye and the pair started chatting, but didn’t exchange contact details when they parted
The 34-year-old (pictured with her husband in Turkey) said that after returning from her sun-soaked trip she stumbled across his Facebook page so added him as a friend, and 20 minutes later Mahsum FaceTimed her
After their initial chat, the pair (pictured) started dating and Amy managed to return to Turkey twice before Covid lockdown rules put the country on the red list and they were separated for eight months
Not long after returning from her ten-day trip in July 2020, Amy saw an offer for a cheap deal to Turkey and booked it.
She then began chatting to Mahsum online every day and when she returned to the country in September they spent a blissful week together and became an item.
Amy said: ‘I just felt so relaxed talking to him, he just seemed so genuine. I fell in love with him because he’s funny and just so caring, all my family love him as well.
‘He wanted me to speak to his parents on the phone. He’s Kurdish and they’re quite strict over there with their culture and religion, so he was a bit worried that they wouldn’t accept me because I wasn’t Muslim and already had a child, but they did.
‘He speaks English, at first it wasn’t the best. It would take me a lot of time to get him to understand some of the things that I was saying, I could tell right away if he could understand me or not just by the look on his face.
‘I love their culture and going over to see his family, it’s so different from our life. They’re a very close-knit family and their house is always busy. I love their way of living and culture but also enjoy my peace and quiet.’
The Scottish guests at the couple’s wedding (pictured) donned kilts, everyone ate Turkish food and they danced to national Turkish dance the Halay and Scottish dance the Loch Lomond
Despite having met her ‘dream man’, the carer (pictured on FaceTime to one another) claims things haven’t been all plain sailing as people being judgemental has cost her friendships and forced her to grow a ‘thick skin’ online.
The couple (pictured) tied the knot on September 4th 2022 in Kusadasi and their big day celebrated both of their distinctive cultures
She continued: ‘I’m an only child and he’s one of nine, so as you can imagine, there’s lots of children. We skipped the engagement part and went straight into getting married because of my circumstances.
‘I had a son and couldn’t go over too much because of money and I couldn’t leave him all the time.’
Amy returned to Turkey at the end of October 2020 where she met some of his family but then lockdown hit.
The couple were forced to spend eight months apart and as Turkey was on the red list they flew to Ukraine instead to meet for five days in July 2021.
Luckily, six weeks later Amy was able to travel to Turkey and she returned with her son, then five, in August 2021 for a fortnight’s break.
The couple tied the knot on September 4th 2022 in Kusadasi and their big day celebrated both of their distinctive cultures.
The Scottish guests donned kilts, everyone ate Turkish food and they danced to national Turkish dance the Halay and Scottish dance the Loch Lomond.
Not long after returning from her ten-day trip in July 2020, Amy (pictured with her husband) saw an offer for a cheap deal to Turkey and booked it
She then began chatting to Mahsum (pictured on their wedding day with Amy’s parents) online every day and when she returned to the country in September they spent a blissful week together and became an item
Amy (pictured with her husband) said: ‘I just felt so relaxed talking to him, he just seemed so genuine. I fell in love with him because he’s funny and just so caring, all my family love him as well’
Mahsum is still getting acquainted with the Scottish accent while Amy is watching Netflix programmes in Turkish to try and learn the language.
Amy said: ‘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. I’ve lost friendships over it just by people being so judgemental.
‘A friend told me about the judgmental people and that you need to grow a thick skin fast if you want your relationship to work, and not let other people get in your head.
‘She’s been married to a Turk for 15 years and still gets silly comments from people that aren’t educated on how you get a visa.
‘People think they just come here and that’s it, they’ve “got their golden ticket”, as someone wrote to me on TikTok.
‘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”. 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.
Amy (pictured) returned to Turkey at the end of October 2020 where she met some of his family but then lockdown hit
The couple (pictured) were forced to spend eight months apart and as Turkey was on the red list they flew to Ukraine instead to meet for five days in July 2021
Luckily, six weeks later Amy was able to travel to Turkey and she returned with her son, then five, in August 2021 for a fortnight’s break
Mahsum (pictured left) is still getting acquainted with the Scottish accent while Amy is watching Netflix programmes in Turkish to try and learn the language
Mahsum (pictured with Amy and their friends in Turkey before their wedding) said: ‘When Amy came to speak to me for the first time at the bar I felt nervous because she was drinking at the bar for a week and I was a little shy to speak to her’
‘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 said: ‘When Amy came to speak to me for the first time at the bar I felt nervous because she was drinking at the bar for a week and I was a little shy to speak to her.
‘We exchanged a few words but never exchanged numbers and I was upset about that.
‘Amy went home and I thought that was it, I wouldn’t see her, but about one week or more later she sent me a friend request on Facebook and my heart skipped a beat, I called her right away.
‘Meeting for the first time and spending quality time instead of over a video call was amazing.
‘I was excited [for us] to get to know each other – we relaxed by the pool, enjoying drinks together and were eating out. I didn’t want it to end. What drew her to me was her beautiful smile, blue eyes and lovely pale skin.
‘I knew she was the one because the feelings I have for her are different from what I ever felt with anyone else. When I was talking to her I was very happy, something just clicked and I knew.
‘Celebrating our wedding was like a dream – Kurdish and Scottish people came together as one big family. The men in their kilts were very different for my family to see.
‘I was so happy, both our families travelled long distances to celebrate our special day. My family travelled 24 hours on a bus from Cizre to Kusadasi and my in-laws flew from Scotland and England to Turkey.
‘It was overwhelming how many people travelled so far and we appreciated it so much.’
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