27 political asylum seekers of Kurds from Rojhelat (Eastern Kurdistan) who are waiting transfer to a third country in Turkey and northern Kurdistan, with the publication of an open letter from the alleged have criticized “discrimination and inattention to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), also they have requested assistance from the human rights organizations. In this open letter stressed that if their demands are not considered they will sit and protest in front of the UNHCR in Ankara.
According to report from Campaign in Defense of Civil and Political Prisoners, these 27 Kurdish political refugees announced their representative and write a letter in English to the office of the UNHCR in Ankara along with publishing the names and numbers of asylum cases also conducted interviews with the media have asked humanitarian agencies, the media and human rights activists to help them in coverage and information.
It is said that in recent years political refugees make up a significant number of Iranian and Rojhelat Kurds refugees. Among the refugees are people who still have their case is under review even after years of waiting.
Text of the refugee’s open letter’s which is published in English below:
TO: UNHCR ANKARA
We, as Kurdish political asylum seekers, the victims of Islamic Republic of Iran’s violence and suppression, have seen many of our colleagues executed in Islamic Republic’s prisons and the pressure on our Kurd fellow countrymen increased day by day, we are still the most discriminated layer of the society in Iran.
We rose up once against the unjust and unfair life of our fellowmen and called for democracy and human rights, yet it has been years we are living in Turkey without support and without knowing our future. Although we are recognized as refugees, due to UNHCR’s biased policies in terms of resettlement, we are facing serious troubles living our lives alongside with emotional and security difficulties.
Despite from numerous requests, there hasn’t been a resettlement decision made for us and we are told in times that all countries refuse to accept our resettlement case due to our political activities. This is of course against all the regulations and agreements signed and accepted by UNHCR. Also, UNHCR’s approach toward Kurdish people is against article 1 and 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ratified 10 Dec 1948.
Therefore, after years of no attention to our status from the UNHCR, we have decided to write a collective letter as a final solution and as a way of protest against the bias done to us to you and other human rights organizations. Our only request is to remove the bias between Kurdish refugee cases and others in terms of resettlement. The possibility of living a secure life is one of the most basic needs of a refugee; so we will not let go of our rights in any way.
We have chosen a representative among political Kurd refugees for possible negotiations and this person will be the representative to all Iranian Kurdish refugees and will have hundreds of Kurdish voices all around Turkey support him.
Rojhelat.info