Turkish Airlines Did not adhere to COVID refund policy Istanbul Istanbul

1 day prior to our return flight to San Francisco my wife and I began to feel poorly with COVID symptoms. I  performed an at-home test and tested positive for COVID. I contacted Turkish Airlines through their specified process and channel both creating a feedback ticket and contacting the company through the customer service call center. 

The purpose of contacting the company was to change my flight so as to not risk the infection of fellow passengers and staff. As per Turkish Airlines policy, it was my understanding I could change the ticket at no additional cost. I did not receive guidance or direction from either channel on how to change the ticket.

Instead, I was informed that my feedback was marked as "URGENT"  and that someone would contact me as soon as possible. With the time getting close to my scheduled return flight, I made the decision that it was not the right or decent thing to do to travel knowing I was COVID-positive and could place both fellow passengers and staff at risk. 

Therefore, I made the decision to change my flight to the same flight (time and layover) 10  days later. I paid the cost of changing the flight out of pocket under the assumption that  I  would later receive a refund once someone from the company had the chance to review my feedback ticket and request. 

After making the change I  updated my feedback request to let Turkish  Airlines know I had changed the flight for this reason.   The next day (October 4th), the day of the originally scheduled flight, both my wife and  I had PCR COIVD Tests administered and received positive results.

I also updated my Feedback Ticket with Turkish Airlines to show them the positive test results. I paid for these tests out of pocket to show proof that we both were in fact COVID Positive and it was unsafe for us to travel on our original return date.   

This morning  (10/10), 6  days after the original return flight and after having to reschedule my flight I have been informed by Turkish Airlines that they will not be refunding the cost of changing my flight. I find this response wholly unfair and am left confused and frustrated as to what course of action they expected me to take. Hoping someone can help in getting my change fee refunded which was $1,807.