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Spurned by Japan, Kurds find refuge in
Canada
19.6.2007
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June
19, 2007
A Kurdish man and his family who staged a sit-in in
front of United Nations University in 2004 while
they were seeking refugee status announced Monday
they have been accepted in Canada.
Erdal Dogan, a 33-year-old Kurd from Turkey, said he
was both delighted and depressed by the decision.
"Honestly speaking, I wish I could stay and live in
Japan," Dogan said in Japanese at a news conference.
"In Canada, my whole family will have to start from
zero again, learning the language and culture" like
they did in Japan.
Dogan left Turkey for Japan in 1999, fleeing ethnic
and religious persecution in his homeland. He
applied twice to be accepted as a refugee but was
rejected both times.
Realizing he had little hope of success in Japan,
Dogan said, he applied for refugee status in Canada
in 2005.
"In Japan, I am an illegal overstayer," he said. "I
couldn't have a job, I couldn't do anything. I was
able to survive only because of the supporters'
help."
Dogan's lawyer, Takeshi Ohashi, criticized the
government for giving the Dogans the cold shoulder.
"While I am relieved that the Dogans are no longer
in fear of being deported (back to Turkey) and have
been recognized as refugees in Canada, this result
is an embarrassment of our country," Ohashi said.
Dogan, his wife, Meryem, and his two children Merve,
8, and Mehmet, 5, and younger brother Deniz staged a
sit-in in front of U.N. University in Shibuya Ward,
Tokyo, in July 2004 to protest Japan's rigid refugee
recognition system.
Dogan's younger brother Deniz's bid was not accepted
by Canada because he married a Japanese woman in
2006. He is still seeking a special residency
permit.
Another Kurdish family, the Kazankirans, also
participated in the 72-day sit-in. Ahmet and Ramazan
Kazankiran — the father and son of the family of
seven — were deported back to Turkey in January
2005, triggering both domestic and
international criticism.
After spending two years separated, however, the
whole family of seven was finally united in New
Zealand this spring where they were recognized as
refugees, Ohashi said.
japantimes co.jp
** The use of the term "Kurdistan" is vigorously
rejected due to its alleged political implications
by the Republic of Turkey, which does not recognize
the existence of a "Turkish Kurdistan" Southeast
Turkey.
Kurds are not recognized as an official minority in
Turkey and are denied rights granted to other
minority groups. Under EU pressure, Turkey recently
granted Kurds limited rights for broadcasts and
education in the Kurdish language, but critics say
the measures do not go far enough.
Others estimate over 40 million Kurds live in
Big Kurdistan (Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Armenia),
which covers an area as big as France, about half of
all Kurds which estimate to 20 million live in
Turkey.
Turkey is home to over 25 million ethnic Kurds, some
of whom openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK for a
Kurdish homeland in the country's mainly Kurdish
southeast of Turkey.
Before August 2002, the Turkish government placed
severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish language,
prohibiting the language in education and broadcast
media.
The Kurdish alphabet is still not recognized
in Turkey, and use of the Kurdish letters X, W, Q
which do not exist in the Turkish
alphabet has led to judicial persecution in 2000 and
2003
The Kurdish flag flown officially in Iraqi Kurdistan
but unofficially flown by Kurds in Armenia. The flag
is banned in Iran, Syria, and Turkey where flying it
is a criminal offence"
Southeastern Turkey:
North Kurdistan ( Kurdistan-Turkey)
wikipedia
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