who needs a break from breakfast? denny's. america's diner is always open. captions paid for by nbc-universal television i was so panicked. >> it's too hard to go on. >> the police were going to be looking for us. >> a mother of two, desperate, hiding. running from the law. and her ex-husband. >> you in? >> a cross-cultural marriage. once happy. >> hello, mom. we're in turkey now. >> then gone sour. >> every e-mail just kept getting worse and worse and worse. >> a young mother, convinced her husband was a danger to their daughters, but a foreign court awarded him custody. >> how are they going to do that? take them away from me? >> she grabbed the girls and fled. >> put them on that boat and they took off. >> now, she was a fugitive

accused of kidnapping. >> go back to turkey, i go to prison. >> what caused her fear? was it her ex-husband or dark secrets in her own family's past? >> we did have -- in our family. >> what would happen to her children? >> we have two little girls that are totally innocent. >> on the run. good evening, and welcome to dateline, i'm ann curry. our story tonight begins with a devoted mother of two, an american living overseas. and her foreign-born husband. what started as a vague suspicion, soon turned into a dark fear that would destroy their marriage and turn her into an international fugitive. on the run for years, with the two little girls she believed were in danger. but were they? here's keith morrison.

>> these are in a way that's bizarre, stolen moments. in a world where doors slam shut and fear is her daily companion. >> i don't know what to do. >> will authority come calling? will the night's knock at the door expose them? and what will happen then? >> they could prosecute me if they found out the whole story. >> the whole story? she means the flight from the law, the night crossing, the fake names, the terror of police. and the self-imposed exile with its secret code, its impossible demands and a particular hope for the two little girls who are the reason at the heart of the whole disturbing puzzle. >> how are they going to do that? take them away from me? >> point your light in that dark place. what might you see?

this is the story of a life on the run and the crucial heartbreaking question behind it. what answer would you give? the only way you'll know is this. to begin at the beginning, and that would be the love story. >> i was immediately attracted to him. >> her name is llinda. >> i was working in the same department where he was studying for his ph.d. >> her mother, karen, saw it right away. >> she had a twinkle in her eye. she fell for him immediately. >> karen who knew her daughter, linda, so very well -- >> we traveled together. linda said, it's quite nice. i felt very close to my daughter. >> like sisters, almost. so karen was proud of linda's college degree, as was her father, sam. they happily supported their daughter's decision to return to detroit, michigan, to wayne state university.

>> she was also interested in environment, but for some reason she went into another field. the psydo technology. >> so she could read lab reports. the reason we're here, the love story. >> i remember linda saying, i'm not going to get married. >> it was her lab partner who saw what happened, how linda suddenly changed. >> she started making mention about this guy and she was excited about it. >> it was a cross cultural romance, two budding scientists. he was a visiting ph.d. student from turkey. yamin. after they met, linda at lab class was not quite the same anymore. >> she seemed to have that extra step in her, like, i'm in love, you know? >> it lasted, too. they dated three whole years while they worked on their degrees. linda's mother, karen, would say, appropriately good things about her daughter's new boyfriend. in public, at least.

>> i thought he was fine. he was polite, friendly. he was very nice. when i met him. >> then in 2000, as freshly minted garage wamint ed graduates, they wed. there was a ceremony in dearborn, michigan, then another one in turkey. >> being married to someone from a completely dig lly different way different way of growing up, different place. >> i thought here's a person who's well educated, likes to travel, we have similar interests. we were happy. >> for now they were oscar and linda yamin. they stettled down in dearborn. two years after they're married, a baby girl arrived. we'll call her amy though that's not her real name. >> i was proud to hold her after she was born. >> the world was open to their family, they didn't have to stay in dearborn.

more exotic notions beckoned. >> when i first met him, you know, i didn't know anything about turkey. i thought it seemed like an interesting place and a different thing to do with my life. >> so just before amy's first birthday, linda had an announcement for her family. actually, two. one, she was pregnant again. there would be another baby. and two, oscar had been offered a prestigious teaching job at an important university back in turkey. they'd be moving overseas. the news was not exactly what linda's mother, karen, had been hoping to hear. >> that's not something that i really like the thought of, and my first granddaughter, my only granddaughter, actually. >> but if karen was unhappy about the move, linda, as her friends couldn't help but see, was excited. >> she had this great attitude about it, experience this culture. she really was excited about it.

>> so the adventure began. >> hello, mom, we're in turkey now. >> new land, new culture, new friends, new family. and what could happen there? well, that gets to the dark heart of it. doesn't it? >> i remember one time he said to me, i didn't marry you for your looks. he said, i married you because i thought you were a nice person, now i see you're not a nice person. >> so how it can turn. excitement, then a moment of suspicion, a whiff of scandal and happy anticipation dissolves in a private horror. coming up, linda hears an unspeakable accusation against her husband. >> she said, you know, i'm 100% sure of what i saw. >> when "on the run" continues. host: could switching to geico really save you

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i'm linda. this is my wonderful husband, oscar. >> on the face of it, oscar and linda yaman's new life in ankara, turkey, seemed, well, happy. it was busy, exciting. big new job for him, brand new country for her. along with a 2-year-old and another baby on the way. so it was stressful, too. especially as she discovered

this living abroad thing wasn't going to be so easy. >> i'm suffering from culture shock when i first got there. >> buzzing all around turkey. and words and habits, and foods she simply couldn't fathom. >> they're having cold yogurt which i don't eat. it was difficult. going from an english speaking country to a country where i couldn't speak the language, i couldn't understand. >> linda's mother, karen, flew to turkey, spent a month there helping her adjust. >> she seemed happy. trying to settle in. >> but when karen went home, linda says she sank into a crushing loneliness. she was pregnant and overwhelmed by even the simplest things. >> just going out to the store, you know, grocery shopping. >> make matters worse, linda says it seemed to her that oscar's so busy at the university, didn't understand her anxiety. >> i really felt that i should

have the support of my husband during this really difficult time. >> frustrations boiled. >> do you remember what we talked about? >> fight were more frequent. >> he was telling me, you don't deserve to be married. you didn't deserve me. my mom, she noticed it. she said, you know, linda, he's not supportive to you here in turkey. >> she opened up an e-mail to her friend mary tracy b. >> she really had a really difficult time just really communicating. it wasn't working out as smoothly as i know she hoped and planned for. every e-mail just kept getting worse and worse and worse. >> still in august 2003 when linda and oscar welcomed their baby into the world, a girl we'll call emily, life seemed better again. oscar seemed to relish the role of doting father. oscar's college buddy, mike witten -- >> oscar was there assisting linda and taking care of the children. he loved his kids very much.

>> and then the event. the incident, if that's what it was. the when it happened, if it happened. no one said a thing. >> we had gone for a family vacation. >> baby emily was 5 months old, amy 2 1/2. it was a trip home to michigan. and this is important. they took a brief side trip. >> for two days and one night we went down to missouri to visit my grandmother, and while we were there i had to run out and while i was out, my husband was there with the kids and my grandmother. >> now came the central moment in our story. the one that would change every bit of family history that would come after it. oscar at home caring for the children, helen, linda's 82-year-old grandmother at home with them. that's when helen watched through an open doorway, she would say later, as oscar changed amy's diaper, amy the toddler then 2 1/2, and if only

there had been a picture just then. linda and oscar completed their visit, went back to turkey. and then three months later, three months of torment, said helen, she told linda's mother, karen, what she thought she saw. oscar as he changed that diaper seemed to take a long time. it seemed to her inappropriate. was her great-granddaughter being sexually molested? >> i wanted to tell my daughter as soon as possible and i wanted my daughter to keep an eye on him to see what was going on. and i felt that my daughter needed to know so that she could protect her children. >> karen phoned linda now back in ankara, turkey. >> i was thrown into a state of confusion and i didn't know what to think. >> couldn't be true, could it? >> it's very hard for a mother right then. i was very torn. >> linda decided not to say a word to her husband. instead, she talked to her grandmother, whose memory with

the passage of time now seemed quite certain. >> i asked her, you know, are you sure of what you saw? she said, i'm 100% sure of what i saw. >> linda started watching, watching like a hawk as oscar interacted with his daughters. before long, her own suspicions began to grow. more than once, said linda, when she left oscar alone with their girls, she returned to find the eldest daughter's clothes had been changed. was that a sign of something? and more disturbing, she actually saw oscar showing signs of sexual arousal when he held 2 1/2-year-old amy. >> everything kind of added up. i got really afraid. >> did you take either of your daughters to a doctor in turkey to get an opinion about this? >> not in turkey. >> she contacted the u.s. embassy in ankara for help. the embassy's advice? go home. consult an expert in the u.s. and so she did. >> i was feeling like, i can't

protect my children from my husband there in the house. >> so one morning soon after, linda waited until oscar had left for work then rushed to the airport with the girls, flew back to michigan. that evening oscar arrived home from the university to discover his family had vanished. he waited increasingly frantic and finally called her parent's house in michigan, unaware that linda had taken amy to a child advocacy center called the care house for tests. and when oscar got linda on the phone, she told him what her grandmother claimed to have seen. >> he said, oh, linda, no, no, no, no, no. it's a big misunderstanding. certainly i would never do something like that. no way. you know. >> he was angry, too, he told her, come home, he said. instead she stayed in michigan waiting for the results of those tests, and inconclusive. the examiner's found no physical evidence to indicate sexual

abuse. but they told linda that didn't mean it didn't happen either. >> they said they couldn't rule out sexual abuse -- right, it was very emotional time. very confusing. >> confusing? oh, yes, who could she believe? what could she do? her mother, karen, insisted the allegation was true, begged her not to return to oscar. and he swore it was not true. pleaded, come home. >> i loved him still. i missed him, you know, it was one day with him and then the next day gone. >> and so finally she decided over her mother's objections she returned to turkey and -- >> that's a decision that i regret to this day. to this moment. >> and a decision that would leave her lost in the legal and emotional nightmare. >> i was the crazy person, you know, saying he was sexually

abusing the girls and i was

i loved him. i missed him. i was torn. >> linda was in turmoil. had she accepted too easily her grandmother's accusation and her mother, karen's, now undisguised dislike of her husband, oscar? in fact, after many phone calls home from oscar, linda decided her grandmother and mother were quite simply wrong. there had been no sex abuse. so in june 2004 she returned to oscar, in turkey, in defiance of her mother's repeated and very vocal objections. >> i was worried about her, actually, because she'd already accused him and i didn't know what would happen to her. >> but now back home with oscar, linda was convinced her mother was the problem, not her husband.

>> he said, your mother, it's your grandmother, it's nothing to do with you. >> she agreed with oscar and abruptly severed all ties with her mother and set out to restore her marriage. that's when a secret window opened into a troubled family past in the form of an angry letter linda wrote to her mother, karen's psychiatrist, private or so she thought. a few selective quotes about her mother, karen. she told me she hated my husband from the beginning and she wish she killed him before we were married. she would scream at me if i ever expressed doubts he was a molester. she would do this in front of my kids and throw and break things and they would cry. why did karen's mother think those things? because of a dark history of sex abuse involving her grandfather, linda's father and a female member of the family. the abuse went on for year, she

wrote, and was so traumatizing for karen that it made her paranoid, inclined to see sexual abuse even where none existed. >> under all the stress and emotional tension, i bought into that. >> still, linda says she was uneasy so she pleaded with oscar to protect the girls from anything that might be construed as sex abuse. >> oscar, please make me feel comfortable. i was hoping things would get better. >> oscar complied, or seemed to. >> he told me basically, you know, you have to put these thoughts out of your head of this abuse or we just can't continue. >> and then another moment which would alter all that came next. it was evening two months later, she said. she lifted amy from oscar's lap and saw what looked like male arousal. but oscar said it was normal. nothing to do with amy. insisted he wasn't aroused. linda didn't buy it. >> it didn't get into his mind

that this kind of behavior is not okay. he knew it was bothering me and he thought it was okay. it's okay. >> then said linda amy started telling her disturbing things complaining that her pee pee hurt. >> i confronted him about this. he said, no way. >> linda's opinion did a complete reversal and decided her mother and grandmother must have been right after all. she remembered the advice those childcare people back in michigan had given her. document your suspicions. so linda began following oscar around the house with a videocamera, taping his interactions with the girls. and he serious afraid she'd leave again and take the children with her demanded linda hand over the girls' u.s. passports. >> as a show of good faith i said, you know, here. i put the passports in his father's safe and i said, i'm

not leaving. let's deal with this in turkey. >> but it was too late. the marriage was over. at the end of 2004, 6 months after linda's return, oscar moved out. >> it was a terrible situation. he's saying, i'm going to take the children away from you. and that was this major fear, that's when i started looking for help. how can i prove this? >> linda took amy to a child psychologist in istanbul who she claims gave her a conclusive answer. >> your daughter was definitely abused by her father. >> but then, linda says, the psychologist spoke to oscar, heard his side of the story. >> and all of a sudden there was a huge change in what she said. she said, i can't write that report the way i was going to write it now. >> which mattered a great deal because now they were in divorce court where linda says she couldn't afford to pay a translator. so she struggled to understand that oscar was asks for custody

of the girls and was claiming that linda was delusional, even schizophrenic. not fit to be a mother. >> i was a skrazsy person saying he was sexually abusing the girls and it was completely wrong. >> then oscar introduced that letter linda sent to her mother's thaerperapist. the one that revealed the family history of sex abuse. don't worry, the lawyer told her, the mother always gets custody. he was wrong. >> the turkish judge expressed really strong bias. he said to my husband, what's your job? i'm a professor. he said, how old is the child? he said, 2. so he had this look on his face, like, this can't be. >> custody to oscar. so was it over? well, not even close. linda immediately filed an appeal and was allowed to retain custody of the girls while she waited and a year and a half into an increasingly vicious

contest, linda faced the judge of the court of appeals. it was decision day again. >> here i was standing there, no translator, you know, and i get this uneasy feeling that something's going on that's important. so he started making his judgment and i wasn't quite sure what was going on. >> and she felt her world fall apart. a second court had now ruled custody to oscar. >> how were they going to do that? take them away from me? >> but it still wasn't over. linda was allowed one last appeal. this time all the way up to the turkish supreme court. again, during the long wait, the girls lived with linda, except as you'll see, linda and her mother, karen, were not just idly waiting nor was the

mysterious man. >> grandmother kept calling me saying, don't do anything crazy. >> but was it crazy what they did? or was it even the right thing to do? >> i told them i would get the little girls out of turkey. >> when "on the run" continues.

in july 2007, the supreme court of turkey announced it had a final verdict in the custody case of oscar and linda yaman. >> i was so panicked. >> the daughter lipid nda accus oscar of abusing was now 5 years old. the decision? five out of four judges ruled for oscar. >> i felt that the system had totally failed the girls in protecting them. >> what she once felt about her moth mother's accusations about her own observations, gone now. >> i was 100% sure the abuse had happened. >> in a panic linda called her parents back in michigan. >> i was very concerned that immediately the children would go to him right then. >> they had to get out of there, quick. >> and in fact, linda's mother,

karen, had already put a drastic plan in motion which involved this man. what are parents like when they come to you looking for help? >> they come to us in desperation. >> karen had gone to her computer, typed in the words "child recovery," and up popped a name. tampa based gus samoran, a former army ranger who specializes in something he calls snatch back. he finds abducted children, returns them to their rightful parents. when karen told her story, says gus, he just assumed that linda had legal custody. so he told karen he'd do it, get linda and the girls out of turkey. it would cost about $70,000. so these retired parents remortgaged their house, wired the cash to samora. >> i told them i would need about a week to prepare and get the girls out of turkey. >> you knew it would be breaking the law. >> i knew that.

whatevers whatever consequences for me, that was not as important as protecting those girls. >> in late july 2007, gus flew to turkey and began putting together linda's escape plan. >> we had contacts in bulgaria. >> the plan, drive linda and the girls to turkey's northern border with bulgaria, they could be out of turkey within 48 hours. >> i calmed linda, everything's ready. she said, i can't go. she said, i can't be in the car to cross the border. >> the mother who wanted to escape her ex-husband and rescue her kids now seemed paralyzed by fear, said gus. >> we were stuck in turkey, with the mother who refused to go with the children. we couldn't figure it out. >> gus called linda's mother, karen. >> she was in a tizzy demanding her daughter was going to do what she had to do to rescue the children. i thought, someone has to be in control, linda was lethargic,

she was afraid. >> frustrated, gus started working on a plan b. a plan he said was much riskier and would take longer. >> we were networking a water escape to greece. >> that's when karen flew to turkey to give the plan a hurry-up, waiting, she told gus, was not an option. >> themother contacted us and said, we're worried, he wants to take the children for ten days and we're or worried once he takes them he won't give them back. >> plan b wasn't ready. the women seemed panic. suddenly without green light from gus, linda and karen snatched up the girls and took off by bus. soon after oscar drove past linda's house and it looked vacant. he called her cell phone. >> he called me and said, what's going on, are you leaving? i said, no, no, no, we're coming back. you know, we're coming back for the weekend. >> they didn't return. days grew into a week then two then three.

oscar called day and night. she didn't pick up. he must be on to them. anxiety was a fever now. >> i thought the police were going to be looking for us. were people going to be looking for us? >> all nerves now and in hiding the women call gus. begged him to hurry. >> the boat exit was probably a week out. >> patience, he told them. act normal. >> there were sometimes when i was sure somebody was coming. >> linda disguised herself, cut and dyed her hair. but one last snag in gus' escape plan. he couldn't find a boat to rent. so instead he just bought one. >> wanted $12,000 for the boat. i went, okay. you know? work your magic, get us the boat. >> and finally, in the dark of night, after five frightened weeks in hiding, they gather up what they can carry and hurry to a local harbor. >> put them on that boat and they took off. >> 40 minutes, a rough crossing,

with two little girls hid. in the boat to a small greek island miles from the turkish coast. >> i was extremely relieved to be out of turkey. it was an incredible feeling. >> remember, only linda had her u.s. passport. oscar had the girls' passport in his safe in turkey. >> is there going to be somebody checking documents, are they going to find out what's going on? >> passports for the next step, says gus. he saw them off on their next lek of the escape, a 12-hour ride on a tourist ferry to athens. linda was to head straight to the u.s. embassy. >> i told them, you can't take anything with you that's turkish, your i.d. cards, wupgs once you get to the embassy, tell them you lost your passport and live in turkey. >> it couldn't be easy as that. though linda indicated she had been sexually abused the u.s. embassy in athens discovered linda was a fugitive from a

court order which granted oscar sole custody of the girls. it refused to issue the girls new u.s. passports. linda and karen phone gus. >> i go well, here's the deal, linda, you're out, you have your children, she goes, well the lady in the embassy told me we better find place to live because they're not giving us passports. >> that says gus is when he realized the women may not have been exactly straight with him. all this time he told us he thought linda had legal custody of her girls. hd h had he known the truth at the beginning he wouldn't have taken the case. >> we were in this catch 22. we didn't want to pass judgment and not help them and send the children to an abusive environment. it goes back to the old saying the client is always the enemy. >> that was the last gus heard from linda. a woman now perpetually on the rou run. >> panic started to set in. >> she made her way along the

cities of europe appealing for help from embassies along the way and rejected yet again she realized she had no choice. if she wanted to keep those girls, she would have to disappear, perhaps for a very long time. she was now stateless, homeless. >> is there going to be a warning out about me kidnapping the kids? >> and a wanted fugitive. coming up, learning how to live a life on the run. >> whenever we would go through a border i would get very nervous. very tense. adrenaline pumping. e enininelcont dues. like your grandfather.at ss and i made this geico commercial in just fifteen minutes. bring it in. older man: whoa. too close. older man: in fifteen minutes you could do a lot. like make a trainwreck of a commercial. or save buckets of cash on car insurance. now if you'll excuse me... it's sexy grandpa time. ♪ sfx: rap song kicks in. ♪ i'm not your daddy, i'm your grandpa ♪

♪ i'm not your daddy, i'm your grandpa ♪

linda yaman was on the run, a fugitive from a turkish court from an ex-husband she accused of sexual abuse. she was a woman terrified of border guards, police, capture. >> i put the girls, a foot area. >> get down on the floor with something over top them so they can't be seen. >> yeah. >> she'd been on the road for month s ever since the u.s. embassy in greece denied her request for u.s. pass ports for the girls. >> whenever we would go through a border i'd get very nervous, tense, adrenaline pumping.

>> she started north toward albania and kept driving through the coastal cities of europe, three long months on the road. until they arrived here and stopped running. but still in hiding? oh, yes. >> see there? there's a cop looking at me. he was just wondering why i was backing up. >> dateline met linda and her girls, by then 6 and 8, just over a year ago. here was their apartment. a minuscule secret place in the small european town, we agreed not to reveal what one. here they were stuck, wanted by authorities in turkey, unable to return to america. we found a deep sense of sadness here. a quiet desperation. >> if i focus on the problems, then it's just, it's too hard to go on. >> here there was a bed for the girls, the couch for her. and when it was vital, when she had to go out --

>> it's 7:35 now, and i'm going to work. >> she was a scientist once. she specialized in cancer research. she cleaned toilets now. and once in a while someone paid her for an english lesson. >> we've had to change our lifestyle a little bit. we don't go out to eat and we just don't buy little things or, you know, just the basics and necessities. >> what is that like for you? >> i have two lives really. one is this normal me. i'm this american, this english teacher, traveling around europe. the other is the reality. i'm a refugee with my girls. >> but she'd become used to this life, hiding, one eye over her shoulder. >> i try to put that out of my head. you can't function like that. on a day-to-day basis. >> can you use your real name? >> i had to use my passport, my real name. >> had to, she said, to apply for work. just as she evaded the

authorities she also dodged the inevitable questions from her daughters' teachers, from administrators at the school. she knew a day was coming when she couldn't avoid them anymore. >> i just dread when there's another time, you know, when the school's going to ask about their documents. >> and privately, frequently, she was both sad -- >> i don't know what to do. >> and afraid. >> i can't go around and cry my. okay. i have to get ready to go then. >> only linda's parents, karen and sam, knew where she really was. they talked by skype. >> grandpa! >> hello. >> sent care packages for their granddaughters. and having financed their daughter's life on the run, they struggle with worry and debt. >> there's been a considerable amount of personal sacrifice, the two of you have gone

through. >> yes. >> how much has this cost you? >> everything we own and more. we mortgaged our home. >> now you're up to your ears in debt. >> we're over our ears, yes. yeah. we're about to go under. >> linda told dateline the girls rarely asked about their dad and she avoided talking about him, but even if she wished she could, linda could hardly ignore oscar or the past. once he discovered linda fled turkey with the girls, oscar filed charges accusing her of kidnapping her own children. >> if the government found out about the issues about me, you know, they might just deport us from the country. i can't think about -- i can't think about it. i just can't. >> but of course that is exactly what she did all the time every day. >> i absolutely hate the idea of having to uproot again and go someplace else and start again.

>> but was oss car even at this moment looking for them? how far would he go to get his little girls back? >> there's no end in sight, you know? have to hide somewhere again, my husband was coming after us or something. >> oh, but something was coming, all right. it was getting very close now, though here in her secret hiding place she could have no idea as we spoke just what it was going to be. coming up, high power help. but will they be released from legal limbo? >> we have two kids, two little girls that are totally innocent. >> when "o

we're definitely in the limbo situation. definitely. not good. no. it's untenable. how can you stay in this situation? >> for 2 1/2 years they've been living in hiding, running from an ex-husband she'd accused of sex abuse, running from the law. linda yaman and her two little girls somewhere in europe, no passports to take them to america. >> we're americans. we shouldn't go back to turkey. go back to turkey, i go to prison. >> she knowingly abducted her children. he claimed she had no choice. so is oscar, her ex-husband, a danger to the girls as she claims? is he guilty of sex abuse? not just one but three turkish courts have said, no, he is not. when you had a chance to think, do i really want to run or not, you'd do it again?

>> yeah, i'd do it again. sure. >> when we asked oscar for an interview he thanked us for the offer but declined. he maintained his innocence. in e-mails he called his ex-wife's allegations dreadful and nasty and cruel. he also said he is heartbroken. he has no idea where his daughters are. he's haunted by the idea that they live as fugitives. he did send us material. turkish court reports, and from psychiatrists that claim no abuse occurred, that oscar was a great father and that the children's rightful place is with him. and with all the running, the hiding, the fake names, the terror of police, could it all have been paranoia based on that family history? it's a question we put to linda's mother, karen. >> i cannot talk about that. it's privacy. we did have some in our family,

a certain amount. >> quite a bit, actually, wasn't it? it wasn't on for years. >> as far as affecting my relationship or any of our family members, it was never a part of our lives. >> in the summer of 2009, a high-profile law firm in boston, bingham, took on linda's case pro bono and filed an appeal with the u.s. state department on behalf of linda and the girls asking the government to reissue the girls passports without asking oscar's consent. the attorneys cited humanitarian concerns. >> we have two kids, two little girls, that are totally innocent. we have a mom who is faced with a decision that no mom should ever be faced with. which is to stay there in turkey and try to work things out with the system that wasn't listening to her. she gave up everything to leave the country with them and now they found themselves as legal nomads. >> the lawyers claim though lipid do's case reached the push

irk supreme court, those who said abuse was nonexistent were not cross examined. >> he holds a very prestigious position. in their society. you read the court's opinion, it's clear, we find it hard to believe someone of his stature and status would be able to do such a thing. >> in december 2009 during a closed hearing, the u.s. state department considered their arguments. and heard linda's case for special passports. >> these girls have been horribly victimized. >> the case has presented a diplomatic opinion for the date department, a case of he said, she said and turkey is a key u.s. ally. last march the u.s. state department issued its final decision. it said it found no fault with the turkish court's decision and warned linda it will not help

her, turkish authorities. another crushing defeat? well, no. at the conclusion of what appeared to be a stern lecture, the answer was, yes. the state department agreed to issue the girls temporary u.s. passports. why? because said the state department, none of it was their fault. and they shouldn't have to live in hiding illegally. >> this is wonderful, it's a dream come true. >> and so for all the worry, it was not the police, not arrest, but relief that came to this drab little european hideout. here we watched as linda and the girls prepared for the trip home. >> some things you have to leave behind. they are the most important thing. the girls. >> and for the little girls, excitement. then last april she walked with her girls into a u.s. consular office in europe. and at the airport the next day, an official handed over

temporary passports for the girls. valid for just five days. a few hours later they landed in the u.s. for the first time in six years -- >> airlines welcomes you to the united states. >> -- no happy family reunion at the airport, though instead linda was greeted by lawyers. >> we're just ecstatic to have her here. great day. >> here they were 6 and 8 in hiding or turmoil for most of their lives. they hadn't spoken with or seen their own father for three years. and it wasn't over yet. oscar declined an interview with dateline but told us the truth has yet to prevail and says it's critical to remember that he, linda and the girls were evaluated numerous times by psychologists who all determined the sexual abuse was imagined and that while linda has evaded the law he's always been cleared in the turkish courts of wrongdoing and believe s linda

was treated fairly by the courts noting u.s. embassy monitors were sent to the proceeding. he fights to get his girls back to what he believes their rightful home, with him. he petitioned for their return under an international treaty that requires countries would sign it. both turkey and the u.s. have. to return abducted children to their home country. though her attorneys say they have yet to be notified of such action, linda has once again gone into hiding. on north american soil, timely, but a fugitive still. she declined our request for a follow-up interview. all they share now is the declaration they both carry into battle. they love their little girls. six years of turmoil, over an allegation never proved. a broken marriage, a legal nightmare and international flight from the law, years in hiding. and ahead, even now, a fight whose ending is not at all clear.

>> that's all for now. i'm ann curry. for all us of here at nbc news, thanks for joining us. this sunday, a special edition of "meet the press" from the ronald reagan presidential library in simi valley, california, on what would have been reagan's 100th birthday. it is day 13 of the crisis in egypt. now at a crucial moment, protesters continue the call for president mubarak to step down. demonstrators are still in the streets but there is calm after several days of chaos in cairo. as clashes between president mubarak supporters and anti-government protesters turn violent, mubarak dug in, resisting the revolution at his doorstep. >> an orderly transition must be meaningful. it must be peaceful.

and it must begin now. >> how do you define "now"? that could mean today, not september. >> now means yesterday. >> this morning the view inside egypt with leading opposition figure mohamed elbaradei and the ambassador to the united states sameh shoukry. what happens next and what will it mean for the middle east and u.s. interests there? i will be joined by the chairman of the senate foreign relations committee john kerry. also part of our special coverage insights and perspective from former secretary of state james baker and reporting from the ground. >> they were hunting down reporters. >> with nbc's chief foreign correspondent richard engel. then a special discussion marking the 100th birthday of president ronald reagan. what is his legacy for the modern republican party and what impact does he have on democrats like president obama? joining us, more from james baker, reagan's chie