Lovelorn Turkish sailor to be sent home after seven month quest
by Lee Mylchreest on 24 Nov 2012
Ninova, sadly now also in detention SW
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He didn't even reach the shore. A Turkish sailor was so obsessed with a British woman he met in Cyprus back in 2005 that he sailed his 16ft boat Ninova from Bodrum in Turkey, trying to find his love whom he believed was in Plymouth. Immigration officers intercepted his boat in the English Channel.
Lovelorn Ramazan Noyan Culum's amazing journey in search of his love began seven months ago in search of the woman he knew as Courtney Murray. He had met her while on a scuba diving holiday in Cyprus in 2005.?
The UK Border Force confirmed a 38-year-old sailor had been intercepted by its cutter HMC Valiant in a 'dramatic capture' this week in seas close to the Devon coast.
The yacht was towed to Plymouth Yacht Haven at Turnchapel and Culum was arrested and taken to Charles Cross Police Station for questioning.
Rather than being reunited with his love, he is currently in an immigration detention centre awaiting removal from the UK back to Turkey and his faithful Ninova remains at Plymouth Yacht Haven.
The UK is just the latest European country to throw him out. He was apparently travelling without passport or papers of any kind, and had therefore had a difficult seven months trying to reach the UK
According to his story after setting out from the yachting hub of Bodrum on the Turkish coast in March, he has been imprisoned, gone on hunger strike, slept rough and found accommodation in a mental hospital while trying to reach Britain. He says he battled storms and disasters as he crossed the Adriatic, the Mediterranean, through the straits of Gibraltar, hugging the coast of Spain and onwards across the English Channel.
Sadly his love is not returned. The woman he knew as Courtney Murray has rejected his suit, blocked him from her Facebook site and apparently married someone else.
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