An Open Letter to Tony Blair

Dashty Jamal, Federation of Iraqi Refugees Britain

According to an article published in the Guardian on the April 25, 2001, 78% of Iraqi applicants were refused and these refusals peaked in October last year. This dramatic increase of refusals has been justified by an assumption that Kurdistan is a safe place (no-fly-zone) to be. By all human standards, northern Iraq is unsafe. The Turkish government often attacks the area killing countless individuals. In 1996, the Iraqi central government attacked too, killing and kidnapping political opponents. Furthermore, fighting between the two factions, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan have resulted in tens of thousands killed and of one out of three million internally displaced. The KDP and PUK are also serious violators of human rights, often playing with lives. Women live under the constant threat of violence and honor killings, with more than 5,000 killed since 1991. Islamic groups, supported by the governments of Iran and Saudi Arabia, carry out terrorist acts against cultural centers, cinemas and libraries and assassinate and issue fatwas against political activists. Not to mention the poverty, unemployment, disease and illness, as a result of the economic sanctions. This atmosphere has transformed Kurdistan from a civilised society into a refugee camp. This contributes to the uncertainty over the future political identity of Kurdistan.

The No-Fly Zone over northern Iraq has only established perilous conditions in Kurdistan. This has destabilised Kurdistan economically, politically and socially. However, the UK Home Office has interpreted this shameful and gravely destructive phenomenon in different ways and portrayed Kurdistan as a safe haven for Kurdish people to live in; this is only an excuse by the Home Office to refuse Iraqi Kurd applicants.

The Federation of Iraqi Refugees Britain holds the UK government responsible for the current conditions in Kurdistan and the plight of Iraqi refugees, as the UK has been a part of creating anti-refugee policies, imposing sanctions on Iraq and introducing the No-Fly Zone, ([un]safe haven)… and demands that all Iraqi asylum seekers be recognized as refugees.