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Cyprus: Kurdish refugees fight for asylum
 international |
rights, freedoms and repression |
news report
 Tuesday October 31, 2006 18:24 by Cillian Gillespie - Socialist Party/Socialist Youth cillian at socialistparty dot net
Urgent solidarity needed
Cypriot government intends to hand over Kurds who won struggle for refugee rights, into the hands of their Syrian torturers. The Cypriot government is notorious for maltreating refugees. Police violence, illegal arrests, illegal detention and deportation are common practice. Last May a group of asylum seekers led the biggest refugee protest that Cyprus had ever seen against these practices. The protest involved occupying Nicosia’s central square “Eleftheria Square” for 11 days and nights and the Red Cross headquarters for 5 more days and nights. Demonstrations took place that involved up to a thousand people. The Kurds, who participated until the end of the protest, successfully gained their legal rights as asylum seekers through this struggle: they were given medical cards and valid residence permits, temporary housing for all in need, an emergency lump sum of money and work permits complying with existing collective agreements.
While the Cypriot government (that also includes AKEL, the so-called “Communist Party” in Cyprus) doesn’t hesitate to use as propaganda the oppression Kurds suffer under Turkish rule, to damage its international standing, it is itself violating the rights of refugees and of Kurdish refugees. Now the Cypriot government seems to want to hand over Kurdish refugees to their oppressors and torturers. This is especially clear in the case of about 100 Kurdish refugees who were in the forefront of the struggle of the asylum seekers last May, that are threatened with deportation to Syria where they’ll face certain imprisonment, torture and persecution at the hands of the Syrian regime. A massive international campaign of protest is needed to stop the Cypriot government’s deportation plans.
If sent back to Syria, the refugees will face certain persecution
The Kurdish people are an oppressed nation. Their territory is occupied by Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria all of which refuse to recognise the Kurds as a nation. While they are denied their national rights such as being taught and participating in public life using their own language, they also face general forms of discrimination: sometimes they are refused access to high schools and universities and they always have big difficulties finding employment. Sometimes they are not even granted ID cards and passports or any paper to indicate their existence and their property is confiscated. The Syrian government (like other governments) is extremely oppressive against Kurdish protests against their oppression. Most of the 100 Kurdish refugees in Cyprus that participated until the end of the struggle in May were also activists in Syria and are wanted by that government. When these people fall into the hands of the Syrian government they risk disappearing in prison cells or “disappearing” all together. During the May demonstrations the families of those who participated were visited by the Syrian secret police to be informed that the authorities knew about the activities of their family members in Cyprus. They were threatened that they would pay for it. If these aren’t “political refugees”, then what are?
Authorities moved in vindictive way
The Cypriot authorities are not unaware of this reality. On the contrary, everything points in the direction that they are acting in a vindictive way. During the 10 days it took the authorities to interview all the refugees in a very perfunctory and bureaucratic manner, the authorities made their “judgment” on the basis of an interview that often didn’t last longer then one hour, translation included. When the asylum seekers wanted to explain the persecution of their nationality, and how their every protest was dealt with military violence and gunfire, they were interrupted and told that this did not have anything to do with their personal situation!
Appeal for Solidarity
The only way the Cypriot government can be pushed back and asylum can be won for the Kurds is on the basis of a huge international campaign. The Socialist Party is organising a protest at the Cypriot Embassy on Leeson Street on Friday, November 10 at 1pm. We will publicise internationally about this cruel, hypocritical and scandalous policy of the Cypriot government. We also ask everyone to immediately send protest letters to the following email addresses:
Send emails to:
Dimitris Christofias,
President of Parliament, gen. secretary of AKEL
president@parliament.cy
N. Silikiotis,
Minister of Interior
cgregoriades@moi.gov.cy
Office of the Ombudsman
ombudsman@ombudsman.gov.cy
Government spokesman
govspokesman@pio.moi.gov.cy
And copies to:
Youth against Nationalism in Cyprus
youthagainstnationalism@gmail.com
Committee for a Workers International
cwi@worldsoc.co.uk
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Jump To Comment: 1Model protest letter:
To:
Dimitris Christofias,
President of Parliament, gen. secretary of AKEL
president@parliament.cy
N. Silikiotis,
Minister of Interior,
cgregoriades@moi.gov.cy
Office of the Ombudsman
ombudsman@ombudsman.gov.cy
Government spokesman,
govspokesman@pio.moi.gov.cy
Dear Sir/Madam,
We would like to bring to your attention and protest at the inhuman conditions facing Kurdish refugees in Cyprus who amongst others were involved in a protest campaign last May 2006 to force the government to implement their legal welfare and benefit rights. The campaign involved an occupation of Eleftheria square and the Red Cross buildings.
Since then about 100 Kurdish refugees, the huge majority of them from Syria, applied for asylum but have had their appeals rejected. The asylum application procedure was severely flawed with no account taken by government officials of the oppression of Kurds in Syria (but also Iran, Iraq and Turkey). Most of the interviews lasted a little more than an hour, including translation, and the applicants complain that they were repeatedly interrupted and not allowed to finish what they wanted to say. Whenever they tried to speak about the oppression they face as a nationality they were told this was irrelevant to their application.
Most of the applications for asylum were rejected. Nobody was granted political asylum! Not even asylum for humanitarian purposes was granted to anybody. No tolerance was shown either. Everything shows that the authorities particularly the police authorities, moved in a vindictive way, and many Kurdish refugees face the prospect of deportation.
The authorities seem to disregard the fact that if the refugees are deported back to Syria they will face certain imprisonment and torture at the hands of the Syrian regime - most of them will probably “disappear”! We want to stress to you that after the May mobilisations of the Kurds in Cyprus, the families of those who participated were visited by the Syrian secret police to be informed that the authorities know about the activities of their family members in Cyprus. They were threatened that they would pay for it.
We understand that the Cypriot people suffered a lot in the past, due to the coup de etat organised by the far right and the Greek military regime, and through the Turkish invasion of the island that caused 200,000 refugees (1/3 of the population). The representatives of the Cypriot people would be expected therefore to show sensitivity when other people face similar conditions.
We would like to express our complete opposition to the Cypriot government’s present treatment of the Kurdish refugees. You should understand that we will fight for the rights of the Kurdish refugees and the Kurdish people in the same way that you would expect us to fight for the rights of the Cypriot people and refugees. If there is no change in policy by the Cypriot government, therefore, you should know that we will spread publicity about this issue as widely as possible internationally and explain the role of your government in taking part in the oppression of Kurdish refugees.
We demand asylum and a policy of tolerance and hospitality to the Kurdish refugees.
Yours,
Trade union resolution:
Stop deportation of Kurdish refugees in Cyprus:
build solidarity campaign.
(you can fill in the name of your union in the places where is written “this union branch”)
This Union Branch:
1) notes that the Cypriot government intends to deport a group of Kurdish refugees to Syria, where their lives are under threat as they are being persecuted by this regime. This group of asylum seekers was earlier involved in protests last May, occupying Nicosia’s central square “Eleftheria Square” and the Red Cross headquarters. This action was taken to protest against police violence, illegal arrests, illegal detention and deportation as well as to gain the basic rights of asylum seekers that the Cypriot government illegally denied them.
2) strongly condemns the Cypriot government which instead of changing its anti-asylum seekers attitude seems to want to proceed to deport these people, ignoring the conditions they will face when returned to Syria.
Union Branch demands from the Cypriot government:
We call for asylum for the Kurdish refugees and a policy of tolerance and hospitality to the Kurdish refugees.
For the following reasons:
1 If they are granted asylum they can live free in Cyprus or the EU, having equal rights and obligations with the local population.
2 Local employers won’t be able to use them as means of attacking the Cypriot worker’s wages and rights
3 They will be able to continue the fight for their national rights, for freedom to the Kurdish people and for the right of their own homeland.
Therefore Union Branch agrees to:
Support wider trade union and solidarity campaign initiatives to highlight the case of the Kurdish refugees in Cyprus and the cruel, hypocritical and scandalous policy of the Cypriot government within the Irish labour movement including the lobby of the Cypriot embassy on November10th.