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UNHCR-Kurdistan to give Syrian Kurds
"refugee" status
18.2.2008
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February 18, 2008
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan Region 'Iraq',-- The
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) approved
giving the Syrian Kurds residing in the Iraqi
Kurdistan region for four years now the "refugee"
status, the region's coordinator with the UN said on
Sunday.
"The Syrian Kurds were given the refugee status, in
response to their demands and in line with the
regional government's efforts to seek international
guarantees for them," Dindar Zebari said in a joint
press conference with visiting UNHCR chief António
Guterres on Sunday.
"Guterres discussed with the Kurdish leaders several
topics including the issue of the Iranian,www.ekurd.net
Syrian and Turkish Kurds
in Kurdistan region and means to support them," said
Zebari. |
Dr Dindar Zebari, the Kurdistan Regional
Government’s (KRG) Coordinator to the United Nations |
On his part, Guterres said it was not the right of
any state to repatriate Iraqi refugees home by
force.
"If it happens that an individual or some
individuals were repatriated independently, then is
nothing wrong with that but if this repatriation
took the form of groups, this would not be allowed,"
stressed Guterres.
According to Kurdish estimates, there are about
3,500 Iranian Kurds, 500 Syrian Kurds and 6,000
Turkish Kurds seeking asylum in the autonomous
region,www.ekurd.net
in addition to about
160,000 displaced persons who fled security unrest
in the Iraqi provinces.
Currently in the Kurdish province of Duhok, there is
a group of refugee camps hosting Syrian Kurds, most
of them headed to the Iraqi autonomous Kurdistan
region in the aftermath of tumults in the Syrian
predominantly Kurdish city of Qamshili (Qamishlo) in
2004 (Syrian Kurdistan).
VOI
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