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Turkey says; Turkey does not allow any Kurd to
pass through its country if that person believes in
the existence of Kurdistan and write it as a
birthplace in his or her passport.
Turkey has recently been making efforts to improve
human rights condition inside the country, as it is
so desperate to joint the EU. While making these
reforms, Turkey does not give an individual a right
to recognise his or her birthplace as Kurdistan. If
this is the case, what can the EU countries expect
from Turkey to contribute in improving human rights
if Turkey violates the simplest form of freedom of
expression?
We are a Kurdish family who now reside in the UK and
hold British passports in which we have written
Kurdistan as our place of birth. The British
government did not have any problem with recognising
Kurdistan; where as the Turkish government did not
even allow us to enter Turkey. Once we landed at the
Istanbul airport, we have been held for 2 hours at
the passport control desk. Then we have been
transferred to airport police station, where after
having been questioned intensively about the word
Kurdistan, we have been detained at the airport
detention cell for one night with having committed
any crime.
This was a clear violation of our fundamental rights
by imprisoning us without committing any crime.
There the police officers at the prison were making
racist remark about Kurds, we told them that they
were violating our rights, we also told them that
it’s shame on a government such as turkey, which
call itself a democratic government to violate the
most basic human right, and to be frighten of two
person who recognise Kurdistan.
However, what were saying did not effect the Turkish
government shameful action of detaining us including
our children, by going through a night full of
nightmares that still have its own psychological
effect upon us. The Turkish authority did not even
stop there, but instead, they send us back to London
next morning in the first available flight. This
incident and many more that occur on a daily basis
in Turkey reveals to the world in general and the
Europe in particular that Turkey violate human
rights. It also reveals that the mentality of
Turkish government is far distance from the
mentality of the democratic regimes in Europe and
it’s near to the totalitarian regimes of the Middle
East countries.
In the end this incident was a very dreadful
experience, the most tiring and disappointing
journey we have ever gone through.
On the other hand it was an opportunity and a moment
of embarrassed for the Turkish government in the
European and international arena. Fortunately the
British foreign office is on our side, and has send
official letter of complain to the Turkish
government requesting explanation of this action.
Meanwhile, we want to take this matter further, we
are planning to sue the Turkish government in a very
near future, hopefully with the help of human rights
supporters and organisations.
Note: this story has been published in The Guardian,
Thursday October 21
KurdistanObserver.com
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