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Iranian Kurd asylum seeker 'They jailed
and hung my father'
19.6.2007
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June
19, 2007
The harrowing stories of hundreds of asylum seekers
who have fled persecution to build a new life in
Northern Ireland were highlighted at a special event
in Belfast yesterday to mark the start of Refugee
Week.
Stories like that of ‘Mr D’ – an Iranian Kurd who
arrived in Ulster 18 months ago after his father was
executed by the authorities for political activism.
With his mother and two sisters, one of whom is in
prison, still in his homeland, the young man asked
not to be identified for fear of placing his family
in further danger.
Mr D’s father was a member of a political party that
supported the formation of an independent Kurdish
nation, thus uniting marginalised Kurdish
communities living in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran.
It was a cause the Iranian authorites were intent to
suppress, and when they caught his father
distributing political leaflets he was arrested and
thrown in jail.
“On the night they arrested him they came to our
house and searched everything,” his son said.
“They found some letters belonging to my father from
the party. This proved he was linked with this
party.
They put him in jail for four months and then they
hung him.
“There was no trial, just one decision and he did
not have a solicitor to defend him.
“Then they returned his body, I saw his body myself,
I can still remember, there was a bruise round his
neck where the rope had been.
“That was a really bad time, I cannot forget this
moment for all my life.”
Devastated by his father’s death but determined to
carry on his struggle for freedom, Mr D got involved
in similar political activism, but it wasn’t long
until the authorities identified him as another
would-be troublemaker.
“When my life became in danger I was sure 100 per
cent that what happened to him would happen to me,
that’s why I had no choice but to leave my country.”
He arrived in Northern Ireland to seek asylum in
January 2006.
At first he found it a struggle.
Not only was he still coming to terms with his
father’s death, but he also had to leave behind the
rest of family, unsure if he would ever see them
again.
“When I first arrived here it was really difficult
for me because I couldn’t speak English,” he
recalled, now almost fluent in his new tongue.
“Everything was completely different from my culture
and my language.
“But finally I found out it was nice here and I do
like it and the people are nice, most are very
welcoming when I speak to them.”
The horrendous experience of this young Kurdish man
and the many others who have sought refuge in the
Province are detailed in a new booklet produced for
Refugee Week.
Forced to Flee was put together by the Refugee
Action Group (RAG), which aims to dispell what it
says are negative myths about asylum seekers and
replace them with facts and real life stories about
just a few of the 2,000 refugees currently living in
Ulster.
Buster Cox, chair of the RAG, said: “This booklet
should help make Northern Ireland a safer refuge for
asylum seekers.”
He added that it would give journalists, politicians
and the public “an accurate picture” on the reality
of asylum, and instruct people on how to be
welcoming.
There are around 200 applications for asylum made
per year in the Province.
RAG is particularly critical of Home Office
treatment of asylum seekers and has called for more
support while their applications for residency are
being considered.
newsletter.co.uk
**
Iranian Kurdistan (Kurdish: Kurdistana Îranę or
Kurdistana Rojhilat (Eastern Kurdistan) or Rojhilatę
Kurdistan (East of Kurdistan) is an unofficial name
for the parts of Iran inhabited by Kurds and has
borders with Iraq and Turkey.
It includes the
greater parts of West Azerbaijan province, Kurdistan
Province, Kermanshah Province, and Ilam Province.
Kurds form the majority of the population of this
region with an estimated population of 4 million.
The region is the eastern part of the greater
cultural-geographical area called Kurdistan.
More about Iranian Kurdistan
KDPI
The Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran in Kurdish
(Hîzbî Dęmokiratî Kurdistanî Ęran) is a Kurdish
opposition group in Iranian Kurdistan which seeks
the attainment of Kurdish national rights within a
democratic federal republic of Iran.
The current
General Secretary of the Democratic Party of Iranian
Kurdistan is Mustafa Hijri
More about KDPI- Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran
PEJAK
PEJAK took up arms for self-rule in the country's
mainly Kurdistan province Northwestern of Iran.
PEJAK (Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan) , took up
arms for self-rule in the country's mainly Kurdistan
province northwestern of Iran. Half the members of
PEJAK are women.
The present leader of the organisation is Haji
Ahmadi. According to the Washington Times, half the
members of PJAK are women, many of them still in
their teens, and one of the female members of the
leadership council is Gulistan Dugan, a psychology
graduate from the University of Tehran. This is due
primarily to the fact that PJAK is strongly
supportive of women's rights. PJAK believes that
women must have a strong role in government and must
be on an equal level with men in leadership
positions.
More about PEJAK- Party for a
Free Life in Kurdistan
** 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"
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