WAN, NORTHERN KURDISTAN
Van Bar Association Immigration and Asylum Commission Member, Mahmut Kacan, disclosed that the murder of refugees is at it’s peak in Turkey, while it was also shared that the corpses were being looted before being left to freeze in the unforgiving cold of Northern Kurdistan.
“The city is home to thousands of immigrants from many countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran,” Mahmut Kacan expressed. “According to the records of the Governor’s Office, in the first 8 months of 2019, nearly 25,000 refugees were caught at the borders trying to enter the city. Over a hundred refugee deaths were recorded during the year. With the melting of snow last spring, over 50 corpses belonging to refugees was found in the Özalp, Saray and Çaldıran districts alone. Again, more than 50 people lost their lives in the city center during the year.”
Why are refugees being targetted?
Along with the anti-refugee policy being pointed to as the reason for the bleak economic crisis sweeping Turkey and the areas it occupies, nationalism continues to plague the country. Yet, the death of refugees serves a bigger purpose.
Creating the foundations for leverage against European countries with the exausted threats of “opening the gates,” Erdogan is also attempting to justify his occupation and demographic change plans in Kurdistan with such massacres.
Treating Kurdistan as a storage room for the peoples who no longer benefit Erdogans great, yet failed, plot the ultimate plan was to remove the Kurdish population from Rojava and Syria, while replacing them with the vulnerbles who have fled their homes initially because of Erdogans attacks. In this, Erdogan is able to achieve malleable neighbours and a stronger arm for the Third World War.
The intolerence of refugees derrives from this exactly, those who were accepted into the country were only tolerated so long as they served Erdogan’s Europe and ISIS plans. Upon the failure of this, the refugees who already had no human value in the eyes of the state, and thus the unpoliticized people, are now being treated like cattle.
The migrants whose applications were not accepted are being kept in the Removal Centers of the Migration Administration, while the refugees whose applications were accepted are being forced into hiding in bus stations, in containers, tents and derelict houses.
It has been noted that the refugees who are being killed are left bare-skinned, lying in their own blood before being coated in the snow. “At first we thought that they are barely-dressed because they don’t know about our climate. We later realised that they were robbed while they were alive, their clothes, shoes, ID and money were taken,” Mahmut Kacan expressed.
“Refugees suffer tremendous rights violations along the route. Since these countries do not have an accessible and transparent asylum procedures, these people become prey for human traffickers who have returned to their industry. Many of these people are dying purely because of the climatic conditions. The bodies of these people who were frozen from the cold appeared after the snow had melted. Without registration, these people cannot benefit from international protection and are at risk of deportation at any time,” the Immigration and Asylum Commission Member stated.
The crisis of refugees can not be used as a smoking gun, he continued: “the refugee issue should not be a weapon used by a government. Unfortunately, everyone related to Turkey’s refugee policy is quiet. The only time when the issue is brought to surface is against the financial agreements requested by the State or against threats of European sanctions.”
