The Plight of the Christian refugees in Turkey

April 13, 06

Dear Sir / Madam,
• As we have mentioned before in our previous reports about our plight we the Iraqi Chaldeans in Istanbul continue to suffer various cruel, inhuman and serious problems such as:
1. The hard and expensive cost of living. 2. Living in unhealthy damp flats. 3. Working for 12 hours daily with a very little money in order to secure our living. 4. Exploiting us by the work's owners. 5. Being babble to educate our children at the public schools. 6. Living without medical insurances or rights. 7. Besides we have many widows and orphans and sick people.

• We have been sent those reports and articles about our suffer and photos to more than two hundreds sites, for International organizations, humanity organizations, UNHCR with all it's branches, immigrations departments of most of the countries concerned of us (USA, Australia, Canada, & all Europe countries), and many country’s presidents, many religious organizations and many VIP places and individuals in the Worlds, at that time our cases in UNHCR were still closed and didn't nominate us to a third country for permanent settlement, and we had been considered as asylum seekers without any rights.

• So, after a short period of our being refugees, our cases were delivered to ( ICMC organization - The International Catholic Migration Commission - which is an agency is coordinating the work between UNHCR and US Immigration department ), to prepare the applications for final interview with the US immigration officers, So the second step was the interviews of ICMC that have been accomplished in Istanbul for those who have been obtained the refugee status and were nominated to US program, by the second interview the refugees were obtained another document issued by ICMC proving that they are primary acceptable to the program of US immigration Dep.

• But the important issue now is the real ordeal that follows the procedure of ICMC step, that demanding the mentioned refugees to apply directly the Turkish law outside Istanbul, because all those refugees were living temporary in Istanbul for many reasons and now they must leave Istanbul to another satellite cities, because the Turkish authorities ordered those refugees to move there and to renew their temporary residence permits after paying the fine fees of their overstaying which is between (850 - 1100 YTL which equals between 600 - 750 US $ per a person for one year), and for example a family of five persons are in Turkey for three years they must pay about 10.000 US$, so how about the families with seven or ten persons and are in Turkey for more than five years? How much would they pay?

For note the real problem is that those refugees families were live in poverty, difficulty in Istanbul month by month and have no ability to pay such amount, and the livelihood in Istanbul was by the help of the working which secured the meaning of the live, but in the satellite cities there is no jobs, which means there is no money even for the daily life, because the Turkish law not permit us to work in the satellite cities, and here the life became too hard for the daily livelihood, So how can we pay thousands of dollars as a fine fees to the Turkish authorities while we have no ability to the daily live ?
• Dear Sir / Madam, We are appeal and seek for your assistance through: -
1. To stop the departing of those refugees to the satellite cities, to be able to live till their final approval to a third country be issued and their Visas be ready, hereby it is possible then to demand those refugees to apply the Turkish law and depart to the mentioned satellite cities before departing Turkey by one month.
2. Or to withdraws these fine fees and demand the refugees to apply the Turkish law in the mentioned satellite cities at once. Especially hundreds of those families have no one to support them from outside Turkey?
3. Or to help those refugees financially by UNHCR or any humanity organizations, if those refugees must apply for new residence permit.
4. Or to demand the refugees to pay these fine fees in the airport in the last day of their travel, like the Canadian or Australian programs, which means that those refugees had executed the Turkish law, through paying the fine fees of their overstaying (Like Jordan Law).
5. So, it is possible to demand those refugees to apply the Turkish law in the mentioned satellite cities before their departing Turkey for the above mentioned reasons.

We suggested the above solutions because of:
1. Leaving Istanbul and traveling to the satellite cities means spending a lot of money and much of difficulties, besides losing all what these families owned from belongings (Life's necessaries) in their apartments in Istanbul, in addition to that they have to buy other belongings in the satellite cities and to rent another flats and that's mean spending a lot of money, for paying to the auctioneer Office, also paying Insurance amends money to the owner of the flat in addition to the flat's rental amount, all these big amounts of money that equals about – 3000 US$ per family - should be paid for the fine fees to the security offices, not for these hard and difficult procedures as we have mentioned above.
2. The long stay of our families in these cities means the more real suffer because in these satellite cities we are not allowed to work, which means that we haven't any source of income to secure our livelihood, especially most of our families have children and have no supporting from outside Turkey.
3. There isn't any assistance in most of the satellites cities, even from the UNHCR to support those families.
4. Whenever our families complained to UNHCR about the hard reasons which preventing them to go to the satellite cities besides informing UNHCR about the huge sum of money which they have been ordered to pay as a fine fees, The UNHCR Ankara officers tell those families: - (This is your problem with the Turkish law and you have to apply the Turkish law, we can’t do anything for you and if you don't go to the satellite cities within one month we will withdraws your refugee certificate and close your case, which is a kind of threat)?
Dear Sir / Madam,
Please, we are appealing you in the name of humanity to put a solution to our ordeal and help us, please be symbols of peace and humanity and do something for us, please refresh our families’ hopes and put an end for our long suffering, we have wrote this report from the core of pain full of frustration and anxiety, we don't know what to do? We are hopeless and waiting for your urgent action on protecting & helping Iraqi Chaldean Refugees in Turkey as soon as possible.
Our appreciations to all of you, GOD bless all of you.

Yours sincerely
Iraqi Chaldean Refugees
Istanbul - Turkey
Iraqi_community@yahoo.com