AROUND 150 Syrian Kurds were uprooted in the early hours of Friday morning as a police raid came down on the demonstrators that had been camped outside the Ministry of Interior in Nicosia for weeks.
Police spokesman Michalis Katsounotos, said the raid happened “in line with law and order enforcement and execution of detainment and deportation legislations regarding aliens who have been denied asylum”.
The overnight operation between 3am and 5am yesterday on Byron Avenue has led to the disappearance of the conspicuous row of bright orange and green tents that had been home to around 250 Kurdish asylum seekers, including 65 children, for almost four weeks.
The tents had been set up in protest of the Cypriot governments’ refusal to grant Syrian Kurds refugee status. “‘If other EU countries will recognise us as refugees, then why won’t Cyprus?”, said a spokesperson for the organising Kurdish Syrian Yekiti Party three weeks ago, “Iraqi Kurds get asylum here, and Syrian Kurds in other EU countries get refugee rights. Cyprus just rejects and deports us”.
Katsounotos assured no force or handcuffs were used and the operation ran smoothly “without any episodes and with the upmost sensitivity regarding handling of women and children”.
He also explained the delay in organising a raid “We needed to have a complete picture of what was going on before we proceeded, who was there, who went in, who went out”.
During the operation 144 people were found, including 81 men, 21 women and 42 children, who were transferred to the MMAD Police Rapid Reaction Unit headquarters in Nicosia along with all their belongings. Later on, another five people were found to be hiding in the surrounding area, bringing the total number detained to 149.
Members of the Aliens and Immigration Services were intensely checking all the immigrants’ records yesterday and according to police reports, by late afternoon 82 people had been found to be residing illegally in Cyprus following rejection of their asylum applications, while 25 people have submitted applications which are under consideration. Of the 42 children taken in, 13 had been released with their parents and another three were expected to do the same later on.
The MMAD headquarters have assigned a special hall for the children involved, which “resembles a kindergarten”, and a psychologist, a social worker, and police negotiators have been involved in the operation to “ensure the necessary conditions are met with regards to the humane and sensitive handling of these people”. The Social Services were also notified and their imminent involvement expected.
Kurds are an ethnic minority in Syria, making up about 10% of the population, and several human rights groups have implicated the Syrian government in disregarding Kurdish rights, including those of freedom of expression and assembly.
A spokesperson of the Yekiti Kurdistan Party, who took part in the demonstration on Byron Avenue, had explained that gaining refugee status in Cyprus would mean recognition of the Syrian Kurdish struggle for freedom from oppression and was not a means to gain benefits from Cypriot resources. “When you give me refugee status, I can ask for rights for people in Syria”.
Syria has openly stated it’s intolerance for unofficial Kurdish parties, and members of the Yekiti Party face imprisonment if they are deported back to Syria.
According to Amnesty International, after deportation from Cyprus in June 2009, 20 year old Syrian Kurd Berzani Karro was arrested on arrival at Damascus airport. Karro was sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment, following three months in incommunicado detention, where he was allegedly also tortured. Amnesty International believes Karro may be “a prisoner of conscience, held due to his perceived political opinion”.
Cyprus based NGO KISA (Action for Equality, Support, Antiracism) commented on the Byron Avenue camping demonstration, saying that “Despite the serious violations of human rights of the Syrian Kurds, the Asylum Service continues the political rejection of almost all the asylum applications made by them. We understand that not all these people may be entitled to the status of a recognised refugee. However, we consider that on the basis of refugees rights, and steering away from political expediencies, some other temporary protection and stay status could be granted”.
They ended with an appeal to the government to “continue its endeavours for solutions which will secure that there will be no violence and forced repatriation of the Syrian Kurds on the one hand, and on the other they will be supported so that they can secure employment which will grant them the necessary income to support their families”.
