26 November 2014
We are a group of stateless Kurds from Syria (Ajanib) who for one month now live in tents outside the Ministry of Interior in order to protest for the fact that we have been waiting for 7 years now for the examination of our applications for international protection. We were forced to leave Syria even before the war started because of serious discrimination and persecution we are facing there, both because of our attitude against the regime of Syria regarding the rights of the Kurdish people, as well as people who are deprived by the Syrian regime even the basic right of nationality and the consequences this entails for our rights and our lives. The possibility of our return has diminished even more and the necessity for our protection is even more imperative following the beginning of the war in Syria.
Our friends and relatives who had left with us under the same conditions and sought protection to other European countries, have already been recognized as refugees, they have been allocated housing and they have been offered intensive programs for learning the language of the country that has accepted them, as well as participation in training courses. Moreover, most of these people have already acquired the nationality of the country which has granted them the refugee status, they have rebuilt their lives and have a positive view regarding the future of themselves and their families.
Unfortunately, the conditions for those of us who have sought protection in Cyprus are very different. Our applications remain unexamined for many years. Other people from Syria who have applied for asylum in Cyprus and their applications have been examined, after many years of waiting, instead of being recognized as refugees, as they should and as it is done in all other countries, have been eventually granted a status of subsidiary protection. This status does not allow them to rejoin their families. Also, it does not give them the possibility to acquire valid travelling papers (equivalent to the papers granted to people who have been recognized as refugees) so as to be able to travel, despite the imperative need for travelling, since, as country-less persons they do not have in their possession any travelling documents. Finally, the economic crisis and the deplorable state of the job market on one hand and the enmity, the institutional racism we experience every day as well as the lack of effective integration program on the other, have led us to pauperization and despair.
As we have been informed by the media, during the discussion held last Thursday (20.11.2014) at the Parliament regarding the issue of the rescued Syrian refugees who are now residing in Kokkinotrimithia, the Foreign Minister stated that in the event that these people apply for a protection order, the Ministry will re-examine their applications according to priority and it will deal with understanding their application for granting the status of recognized refugee instead of offering subsidiary protection. We believe that the immediate examination of our applications and our recognition as refugees would be a serious indication regarding the consistency of the Foreign Ministry towards the obligations stemming from International and European Law and would also send an encouraging message for the rescued refugees from Syria who, due to their worries about the outcome of their applications, have not submitted until the present day, a request for asylum.
Finally, we would like to stress that we are determined to continue our protest outside the Foreign Ministry and that starting from today, Wednesday 26.11.2014, four of us, to underline our will and determination to claim our rights, have begun a hunger strike until our applications are examined and we are recognized as refugees.
The refugees under protest outside the Foreign Ministry
