No Subject Given

mchyet at lionheart.Berkeley.EDU mchyet at lionheart.Berkeley.EDU
Sun Jan 29 23:11:10 GMT 1995


From: Michael Chyet <mchyet at lionheart.Berkeley.EDU>
Subject: 


Text item: Text_1

Dear friends:       
         I am sorry to say that I have a piece of news: The mother of an Iraqi 
Kurdish friend of mine just arrived here in the the San Francisco Bay Area, 
after being harrassed by Turkish authorities at the Istanbul airport.  She has 
an American identification card which states that her place of origin is 
"KURDISTAN". For this reason, she was forced to get off the airplane she had 
already boarded {T"urk Hava YollarI} and was taken to the American Consulate.  
The authorities at the American Consulate apparently said: "She's an old lady, 
let her alone; She's an Iraqi Kurd, and the term "KURDISTAN" is now in use for 
'Northern Iraq'; besides, the Turkish government has officials relations with 
both the KDP and the PUK, which maintain offices in Ankara, and have the word 
"KURDISTAN" in their titles." The Turks reportedly tried to get a $300.oo bribe 
from her, but she bravely stood her ground and said, "You give me $3,000.oo for 
this insulting inconvenience!"  No money changed hands, but she was eventually 
returned to the airport, where she was permitted to board the next day's flight.
 Her son in San Francisco, who went to meet the flight that she was originally 
scheduled to arrive on, was not told of any of this, and one can just imagine 
how worried he must have been until he found out -- after making several 
expensive international long distance phone calls to the hotel she had been 
staying in, etc. -- what had happened to her.  
        This sort of treatment of civilians as if they were garbage is neither 
new nor peculiar to the Turkish authorities. Nevertheless, there are those who 
would say that this is an example of how the Turkish-Kurdish war is being fought
on a new front.
        Anyone interested in contacting the woman involved to interview her -- 
she has just come from Kurdistan of Iraq, with fresh views and insights on the 
situation there as well, may contact me, and I will put you in touch with her.
        Best wishes, 
        MLC 



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