From Istanbul with love: Yilmaz flies to see Ruffa

MANILA, Philippines—Must be … love.

Show biz tabloid news on Friday quoted actress Ruffa Gutierrez as saying she missed her estranged husband, Turkish businessman Yilmaz Bektas.

At sunset, he was in Manila, saying he also missed his wife and their kids, and that he had come to win them back.

Only weeks ago, they were throwing verbal brickbats

back and forth.

Bektas flew in alone at 5 p.m., via an Emirates flight from Turkey. At the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, he was escorted by airline security past a mob of media men and airport employees.

Why he’s here

Stopping by the conveyor belt to claim his suitcase, Bektas—in a black jacket over jeans and a white shirt—managed to reply, if a bit timidly, to a few questions.

“I’m gonna see her, I’m gonna see our kids,” he said.

Was there a chance he and Gutierrez could get back together? “Yes, that’s why I’m here,” Bektas said.

How long was he staying? “Maybe 10 days ... until I’m gonna get Ruffa’s heart back (sic).” He last talked to his wife the night before his flight, he added.

As photographers continued to crowd him, Bektas cut the ambush interview short, saying, “I’m gonna lose my suitcase ... I don’t know where my suitcase is ...”

Finding which, Bektas rushed out, still flanked by his escorts, to a waiting hotel service car.

None of his in-laws picked him up, contrary to earlier reports.

In May, Gutierrez announced that she was leaving Bektas, later saying he was a wife-beater and that he used to lock her up.

This was followed by several weeks of bitter and very public arguments.

Last night, Bektas looked more relaxed at the lounge of the Shangri-La Hotel in Makati, even as reporters still tried to interview him, and curious onlookers continued to ogle him.

Now on good terms

He would like very much to take his kids to Cebu for a weekend at the beach, he said. Lorin, the elder of his two daughters with Gutierrez, turned 4 on Aug. 3. Venice is 3.

Bektas said he and his wife were now “now on good terms,” and that he would try to take his family to live in Spain.

The Gutierrezes did not give a statement.

This trip was very important, Bektas said, because it was the first time he would see his kids in six months. He was staying in a hotel because he was “more comfortable here,” he told reporters. With a report from Dolly Anne Carvajal
Tarra Quismundo
Inquirer