Hurdles remain on readmission agreement between Turkey and EU

Today’s Zaman

Abdullah Bozkurt

31 May 2010

The European Union and Turkey remain at odds on a few remaining contentious issues concerning a readmission agreement to tackle the flow of illegal immigration to Europe, though both sides have appeared to move forward on the deal by agreeing on most articles, Today’s Zaman has learned.

According to a diplomat close to the negotiations on the readmission agreement whereby illegal immigrants, who reach Europe via Turkey and are caught in European Union member states, will be repatriated to their home countries after temporarily staying in Turkey, both sides have brokered a deal on 19 articles but agreement on the remaining five does not seem to be moving any closer. Because of the sensitivity of the negotiations, the diplomat wished to remain anonymous.

The disagreement on the negotiations focuses on sharing the financial burden which stems from screening, hosting and eventually repatriating illegal immigrants, as well as on Ankara’s insistence on placing a so-called “Turkey clause” in EU agreements with third countries like Iran, Iraq and Pakistan. Without having EU agreements on countries of origin, Turkey fears it will be left alone in dealing with the massive cost of hosting and repatriating immigrants and is asking for inclusion in third party negotiations.

Trading blame

The EU alleges that Turkey is not doing enough to tackle illegal immigration coming from the East, especially from Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East, claiming the country has failed to fulfill its promises to repatriate illegal immigrants who pass through Turkey and are later detained in EU member states.

Turkey, on the other hand, claims that the EU is shying away from sharing the financial burden with Turkey and is not doing enough to coordinate immigration and resettlement policies with Ankara. It is estimated that every year almost 72,000 illegal immigrants go to Europe via Turkey, although Turkey apprehended approximately 65,000 illegal immigrants in 2008.

Ankara insists that the readmission agreement should entail strong funding from the EU, mirroring similar funding that is available to member states under the “resettlement policies” within the European Refugee Fund (ERF), which was established to support and improve the efforts of member states to grant refugee or asylum status to beneficiaries.

The government also fears that, without a strong and clear readmission agreement in place, vetting thousands of immigrants and asylum seekers in reception centers while awaiting deportation will open a Pandora’s box for Turkey in the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Turkey ranks second after Russia in terms of the number of cases ending up in the ECtHR and is trying to reduce them by introducing constitutional changes on fundamental rights, due to be submitted to a referendum on Sept. 12.

In April, for example, the ECtHR decided in three out of four cases involving refugees recognized by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that Turkey would violate Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) if the expulsion orders were enforced. The court also criticized the unlawfulness and the conditions of their detention in a police station and in some of the detention centers where they had been held awaiting deportation.

Visa waivers in exchange for deal

Even though both sides may agree on sharing the financial costs and come up with a consultation mechanism over third country negotiations on similar matters, the visa-free travel of Turkish citizens in EU territory will remain the major stumbling block to the agreement. Though the EU offered a visa facilitation agreement to sweeten the deal, Ankara brushed the offer aside and made it clear that Turkey wants free movement of Turks.

Turkey’s chief EU negotiator, State Minister Egemen Bağış, reaffirmed the message on Sunday in Hanover. “They are talking about easing visa application procedures. We are not interested in that. We want what is rightfully deserved for our citizens: Free movement,” he told a group of Turks.

“I guess it will all boil down to the visa waiver agreement Turkey is seeking in the end,” the diplomat said. The EU Commission contends that it lacks the mandate to seek visa-free travel for Turkey and is preparing the groundwork to obtain authorization to negotiate for that. However, this is likely to prolong the conclusion of readmission negotiations further as it will take quite some time.

Turkey has already fulfilled most requirements raised by Brussels for visa-free travel in Europe. The government will introduce this week biometric secure passports to replace old ones and is working on improving immigration procedures within the framework of the integrated borders management system.

Anadolu’nun son göçerleri yol arıyor

This is an article about the last nomadic group, Sarıkeçililer, in Turkey. Apparently, the Turkish state is forcing them to settle down.

Source: Radikal, 17.05.2010

By: Serkan Ocak

MERSİN – Bir dağ keçisi bir insan için en fazla ne ifade edebilir? Hayatı, yaşam kaynağı, yemeği, suyu, çocuğu, umudu, yarını olabilir mi? Anadolu’nun son göçerleri ‘Sarıkeçililer’ için evet. Binlerce yıllık geleneği sürdürmeye çalışırken kışın Mersin’in düz ovalarına konan, yazınsa Konya’nın yüksek yaylalarına göçen Sarıkeçililer, karşılaştıkları baskılar nedeniyle bugün yerleşik hayata geçerek yok olma tehlikesiyle karşı karşıya. Sarıkeçililer’in göç yolları, keçilerin ‘ormana zarar verdiği, fidanları yediği’ gerekçesiyle her yıl git gide daralıyor.
Sarıkeçililer, Anadolu’da hayat sürmüş Oğuz Boyu’ndan geliyor. Diğer boylar çoktan tarih sayfalarında yerini alırken, Sarıkeçililer var olma savaşı veriyor. Sayılarının 150 aile (çadır) olduğu sanılıyor. Ailedeki fertlerin sayısı dört ile 10 arasında değişiyor. Göçmek zorundalar, çünkü keçileri, develeri için uygun iklim ve otlaklara ihtiyaçları var. Devlet Sarıkeçilileri yerleşik hayata zorluyor. Ancak Sarıkeçililer, asıl ‘son’un yerleşik hayata geçince başlayacağını düşünüyor.
Sarıkeçililer için hayat her yıl yeniden başlıyor. Yörük aileler toplu halde değil, ayrı ayrı göçüyor. Göç bazı yıllar iki ay sürüyor. Kimi devesiyle, kimisi de ‘teknolojiye ayak uydurmak zorunda kalarak’ traktörleriyle orman yollarından göçüyor. Mersin’in Gülnar ilçesinin bir köyünde göç yolunda olan 67 yaşındaki Cemal Candan dertli:
“Dedemin dedeleri de göçebeydi. Elimizdeki keçileri satsak nasıl geçiniriz? Kuru tarla alsak ne olacak? Bizim sermayemiz, tarlamız, elmamız, sebzemiz her şeyimiz keçi. Develeri sattım bir traktör aldım, ama traktörün beti bereketi yok. Devenin gütmesi zor diye sattım. Ama devenin bize getirisi vardı, traktörün ne getirisi var? Eskiden bir sene ekin ekilirdi. Bir sene boş kalırdı ama şimdi her yıl ekiyorlar. Hayvanları gütmek zorlaştı. Boş tarla kalmadı. Keçilerin otlayacağı yer kalmıyor. Yerleşik hayata geçsek, kuru evde gelir olmazsa neyle geçineceğiz? Keçi gitti mi biz yeni doğmuş çocuk gibi oluruz.”

‘Harp çıksa haberim olmaz’
Sarıkeçililerin Türkiye gündemini takip etmek gibi bir dertleri yok. Candan ailesinin gündemini Candan şöyle anlatıyor: “Benim siyasetle hiçbir işim olmaz, Başbakan ne yapıyor, Cumhurbaşkanı ne yapıyor bilmem ben. Öte yanda harp var deseler benim haberim olmaz. Jandarma gelip söylerse haberim olur. Cep telefonum var. Radyo var ama çekmiyor. Benim gündemimde ‘bahar geldi, Konya yoluna göç başladı. Şu Mut yolundan nasıl geçilecek? Kırk Yalan köyünde (Kırk Kavak köyü) konunca sonra dokuz saatlik bir ‘Sırat yolu’ var oradan nasıl geçeriz bilmiyorum ben? 20 kilometrelik yol. Her taraf ekili, davarı nasıl kontrol edeceğiz?”

Musa Gök de bir Sarıkeçili. Keçilerini satarak yerleşik hayata geçmeyi denemiş. Ancak başaramayarak kara çadıra geri dönmüş:
“Keçileri sattık, bir eve yerleştik. Sonra terk ettim, alışamadım. Yaylaya geri döndüm. 27 yıldır Seydişehir’e göçerim. Orada ormancı 17 yaşındaki çocuğuma 3 bin TL’lik ceza yazdı. Tartıştık, sonra da oraya terk ettim. Hayvancılığa devam ediyorum. Bu sene ormancılardan korkumdan Ermenek tarafına gidiyorum. Göçebeliği terk edemem ’”

Sarıkeçililerin, dertlerini anlatabilmek için kurdukları ‘Sarıkeçililer Yardımlaşma ve Dayanışma Derneği’ adında bir de toplulukları var. Derneğin başkanı Pervin Çoban, geçen yıl Başbakan Recep Tayip Erdoğan’la dahi konuşmuş: “Başbakan 17 Temmuz 2009’da Konya’daki bir görüşmemizde ‘kıl keçisi yasak diyenin ipini çekerim’ dedi. Ancak yazılı bir şey olmadığı için uygulamada ormancı böyle davranmıyor. Bir ayda toplam 20 bin TL ceza kesildi. Cezaların en küçüğü çadır başına 1.5 -2 bin TL. Bizim sorunumuza çare bulunmazsa, Sarıkeçililer yeryüzünden silinecek. Bize göç haritası çıkarılmalı. Bir yıl bir yerden diğer yıl başka yerden göçelim. Bize konaklayacak yer göstersinler, gittiğimiz yerlerde kira ödüyoruz. Ormanları tahrip etmeden dönüşümlü olarak hayvanlarımızı otlatmak istiyoruz. Yerleşmek isteyenlere de iş imkânı ve ev verilmesini istiyoruz.”

Yeditepe Üniversitesi Antropoloji Bölümü araştırma görevlisi Hilal Tuztaş, Sarıkeçililer üzerine araştırma yapıyor. Tuztaş, “Orman Kanunu en büyük sıkıntıları. Her an ormancıların ‘ceza keseceği’ korkusuyla karşı karşıyalar. Sayıları her yıl azalıyor. Çocuklar okumak istese de göç zamanı nisan sonu gibi okuldan alınıyor. Okul sorununa çözüm bulunmalı. Sarıkeçililerin şu anda kafası karışık, zor şartlar yüzünden göç hayatından vazgeçmek isteyenler de var geleneğini bırakmak istemeyenler de. Eğer göç şartları iyileşirse kimsenin bırakacağını sanmıyorum.”

For Gay Iranian Refugees, a Matter of Life or Death

A piece by Joseph Erbentraut published in Edge Boston (www.edgeboston.com) on July 20th, 2009. Refugees is a significant issue in Turkey where the Turkish state has not lifted the geographical limitations of the Geneva Convention, yet. It means that the state only accepts refugees from the West and does not give refugee status to asylum-seekers coming from other parts of the world. These asylum-seekers are usually allowed to stay temporarily until they are relocated to countries such as US, Austrialia and some European states. However many cases of deportation, without processing the case, take place since the Turkish state is unwilling to receive refugees, especially from Eastern countries, in its territory.

The international media clamor surrounding last month’s Iranian election, which saw the contentious re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad result in weeks of protests, demonstrations and violence, may have died down, but the unstable atmosphere lives on for residents of the Islamic republic.

They continue to face major restrictions on free speech and threats to their safety if they choose to speak out. And they will not soon forget the street violence that resulted in the death, imprisonment and harassment of many protesters, activists and journalists–all part of the worst unrest the country has seen in thirty years.

This is particularly true for gay and lesbian Iranians, both those who remain inside the country and those who have escaped. They are familiar with oppressive treatment from their government, one which continues to outlaw homosexuality and crack down against any outward display of queerness. The first story (published here June 30, 2009,) examined the environment facing the Iranian queer community, particularly in light of the government’s attempts to silence any post-election voices of dissent.

Building from that story, we now take a look at the climate facing queer Iranians who have fled the country with the hopes of seeking asylum in the West. Forced, in many cases, to leave behind their families, friends and the culture of their blood, their dreams of living in freedom still face a number of challenges.

When gay Iranian refugees and asylum seekers leave, they are sent to live temporarily to a number of a different places, though most end up in small Turkish towns known as “satellite cities,” far from the larger cities like Ankara or Istanbul. They file a request to be granted official refugee status with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in order to legally move West, and then they wait. In many cases, that waiting period can last up to three years, a time during which employment is difficult to find and harassment is not unusual.

“[The refugees] get stuck in Turkey for this red tape process for years – one, two or more and you can never figure out why some peoples’ process moves faster than others. They live in limbo,” shared Tim Murphy, a journalist for Out Magazine who has covered the region extensively. “The atmosphere is very conservative; it’s a bizarre, unwelcoming twilight zone. You have no idea when you’ll finally be able to settle and exhale.”

A report released last month jointly by the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly’s Turkey Refugee Advocacy and Support Program and the Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration (ORAM) outlined some of the challenges facing LGBT refugees in the country.

“[They] are subject to a particularly caustic mix of marginalization in key areas of life, preventing them from obtaining assistance or employment, and depriving them of even the most basic security during their lengthy stay,” read the report, based on interviews with 46 mostly Iranian LGBT asylum seekers and refugees. “Most live out their time in Turkey in destitution and desperation.”

Refugee influx creates crisis
The report also noted that recent years have seen higher numbers of LGBT asylum seekers in Turkey, in addition to a generally higher influx of migrants leaving Africa or Asia for Europe or North America. According to sources interviewed for this story, the increased rate of asylum seekers is problematic for a number of reasons.

Hossein Alizadeh, communications coordinator for the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, recently returned from Turkey, where he was investigating the atmosphere facing queer asylum seekers. He was troubled by what he saw, noting “disappointment and frustration” among many of the people he spoke with.

According to Alizadeh, Turkey called only 3,000 refugees home as recently as 2003, before the Iraqi invasion. Today, that number is nearly 20,000, an estimated 150 of whom identify as LGBT.

“There are still refugees coming from Iran, and we get more and more coming in every time there is a political development in one country,” he shared. “As more come in, the chance of the refugees finding a host country get slimmer and slimmer.”

Another fear among LGBT rights activists working on the issue is that an influx of more gay refugees could result in an increased safety risk for the community. Already this year, ten transgender and gay people have been murdered within the country’s borders, the result of both the conservative environment and limited police protection.

“Turkey doesn’t like refugees,” said Scott Long, director of Human Rights Watch’s LGBT Rights Program. “They have to huddle, are subject to violence, are harassed and are accused of being devil worshippers. In some ways, it replicates their experience in Iran. The more of them there are, the more susceptible they will be.”

Arsham Parsi left his home of Iran to live in Turkey in 2005, when he discovered the police were seeking him out for his early efforts to organize and network with fellow Iranian gay activists. He stayed there for just over a year before seeking asylum in Toronto, Canada.

“The Iranian queer community who escapes to other countries have no other choice but to go through this process,” explained Parsi, who is now executive director of the IRanian Queer Railroad (IRQR), an organization which provides support to gay Iranian refugees. “I had lots of problems [in Turkey], but I had no choice. It’s about death or life, choosing between bad and worse.”

Parsi echoed the sentiments of the report released by the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly and ORAM that major changes needed to be made to the UNHCR’s method of processing and abjudicating refugee status for gay Iranian applicants. He is currently writing an open letter urging the organization to speed up their process. He hopes that other Western groups will sign on with their cause. A similar campaign launched by IRQR earlier this year successfully expediated country assignment for a number of gay refugees.

“We need international lobbying with UNHCR,” Parsi said, noting that he is contact with Iranian refugees in a number of other nations also having difficulty. “Everyone knows they are dealing with lots of refugees and they have limited resources and staff, but the important issue is that Iranian queers are particularly vulnerable. They have to process their cases urgently because they are still facing discrimination.”

The challenge to the international community
Fearing danger both in their abandoned homeland and in their temporary locations, queer Iranian refugees are indeed left in a quandary. They cannot return home, where it is estimated that thousands of gays and lesbians have been killed since 1979 and daily violence and intimidation continue, but their future remains shrouded in uncertainty.

Activists on the issue hope that LGBT and human rights organizations worldwide come to the aid of queer Iranian refugees, creating an international effort to prevent continued threats on personal safety.

“Significant steps must be taken to make LGBT refugees and asylum seekers safer in Turkey and in many other places throughout the world,” said Neil Grungras, ORAM executive director. “The violence and abuses will diminish only when all responsible parties begin giving the problem the intensive and serious attention it deserves.”

“It’s an international challenge for the Iranian queer community,” Parsi said “Where can we live freely and have our rights respected? Most [Western nations] will say that Iran is violating rights, but they should also respect those who escape from Iranian torture.”

Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro offered EU visa-free travel

An article by Elitsa Vucheva on the new EU Commission proposal regarding visa-free travel for the nationals of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, published on EU Observer website. Apparently, once the proposal is adopted, nationals of these three countries will be able to enjoy visa-free travel to Schengen countries while remaining Balkan states Bosnia and Albania will still need to fulfill the criteria required for visa-free travel. This disparity among Balkan states has sparked a discussion where some circles criticized EU for creating ‘two classes of Balkan citizens’ and eliminating Muslims from the right enjoyed by Christians. Olli Rehn rejects such criticisms and states that it’s not a political decision. The criteria that Albania and Bosnia have to fulfill, among other items, include “improving external relations and fundamental rights”. If this decision is not a political one, then what is? Olli Rehn could at least show the courtesy of telling the truth and stating that it is a political decision, rather than denying it while looking right in the eye. There is still no word for visa-free travel of Turkish nationals, of course. I can’t help but wonder: Will that time ever going to come? (Z.S.A)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – The citizens of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro should be allowed to travel visa-free to the EU’s borderless Schengen area next year, the European Commission proposed on Wednesday (15 July).

“It is a historic step in our relations with the western Balkan countries,” EU justice commissioner Jacques Barrot told journalists in Brussels while presenting the proposal together with enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn.

“It really is a great day for the peoples of the western Balkans [and] for Europe,” Mr Rehn said.

“Visa-free travel means no more queuing at embassies … [and] no more collecting of supporting documents. The citizens of these countries will be able to visit family and friends in EU… without having to undergo heavy visa procedures,” he added.

The lengthy and difficult process of obtaining a visa to enter the EU was imposed on the western Balkan countries – Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania – in the aftermath of the 1990s Yugoslav war, with the bloc promising as far back as 2003 to start talks with the countries’ governments to lift this obligation.

The visa liberalisation process eventually started last year with all the countries with the exception of Croatia, which already benefits from visa-free travel, and Kosovo, which was excluded from the process due to “security concerns,” Mr Rehn said.

“This doesn’t mean Kosovo is forgotten,” he added, stressing that it was a “purely technical decision.” In the autumn the commission is to publish a feasibility study on Kosovo where “certainly the visa issue will also be addressed.”

The newly constituted European Parliament is now to be consulted on the commission’s proposal and then EU member states are expected to give a final green light to it “probably at the end of October.”

Under this scenario, and provided that Serbia and Montenegro meet “a few open benchmarks” by then, citizens from the three countries could travel to the EU’s borderless Schengen area – which currently includes all EU countries minus Ireland, the UK, Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus, but plus Norway, Iceland and Switzerland – as of January 2010.

Creating ‘two classes’ of Balkan citizens

The decision to leave out Albania and Bosnia from the visa liberalisation proposal has provoked criticism in some circles, with Brussels accused of isolating the Balkans’ Muslim population.

In an open letter, Christian Schwarz-Schilling, the international community’s former high representative to Bosnia, conservative German MEP Doris Pack, Green leaders Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Rebecca Harms, as well as a number of academics and analysts, said that by not granting visa-free travel to all Balkan citizens, the EU was creating “two classes of citizens in South Eastern Europe, based on ethnicity.”

“The European Commission ignores that Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia are almost at the same level with regard to the introduction of biometric passports and a variety of legislative acts agreed on the visa liberalisation roadmap,” states the letter.

The authors argue that Bosnia’s Muslim population – the Bosniaks – will be isolated, as the country’s two other main ethnic groups, Croats and Serbs, the majority of whom have Croat and Serb passports, will be able to travel freely as of next year.

“De facto, ethnic criteria will decide on whether a citizen is able to travel freely to the EU,” they say.

Visa liberalisation is not a ‘political decision’

The commission rejected the accusations, insisting that there were clear criteria to be fulfilled in order for a country to get into the Schengen “white list,” and that neither Albania nor Bosnia had met these criteria yet.

“Granting visa-free travel… is not a matter of a simple political decision,” Mr Rehn said.

Albania and Bosnia “have the same conditions as the others” and once they meet these conditions, they too can travel visa-free, he added.

The conditions include introducing biometric passports and improving passport security; strengthening border controls; reinforcing the institutional framework to better fight organised crime and corruption; as well as improving external relations and fundamental rights.

“I believe both countries will soon catch up with their neighbours. If all the conditions are fulfilled, the Commission could envisage making a new proposal, which would include them, by mid-2010,” the enlargement commissioner said.

He also pointed out that in the particular case of Bosnia, “too much time and energy has been consumed in recent years in nationalistic rhetoric instead of taking serious political decisions for the benefit of the citizens.”

It is all “in the hands of their own leaders now,” he stressed.

15.7.2009

Laleli’de bakıcı pazarı

An article published in daily Radikal about women migrants from ex-Soviet countries in Turkey. Women from countries such Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia are traveling to Turkey on tourist visas, looking for jobs in the service sector and over-staying their visas when they find a job. Although there are women working as sex workers, majority aim at finding jobs where they look after children or take care of elderly. Since they work illegally, they accept wages way below than Turkish people which actually increased the demand for them and led to complains from the Turkish side of the story. The fact that they work without any social and even job security paves the way for their abusal by employers and intermediaries. Their passports are confiscated in order to prevent their escape. These women usually come alone and leave either a husband or children behind to support from their earnings in Turkey. The story below is the experience of two undercover journalists who went to Laleli, apparently a huge market where you can find illegal intermediaries in Istanbul, and pretended they were looking for a nanny. (Z.S.A)

Radikal/ 5.7.2009

Çoğu üniversite mezunu, dil bilen yabancı uyruklu kadındar ortalama 600 dolara bebek ve hasta bakmak için Laleli’de müşteri bekliyor

Bir dönem bavul ticaretinin merkezi olan Laleli, şimdilerde çoğunluğu eski Sovyet ülkelerinden gelen bebek bakıcısı kadınların iş bulma mekanı oldu. Çoğu üniversite mezunu, dil bilen kadınlar ayda ortalama 600 dolara çocuk bakıyor. Referans gazetesinden Sevda Yüzbaşıoğlu ve Enis Tayman, çocuk bakıcısı arayan aile ’kılığında’  Laleli’ye gitti.

Sabahın ilk saatleri olmasına rağmen İstanbul’un Laleli semtindeki Dadaş Parkı hayli hareketli. Park denilen yer aslında iki tarafı oteller ve mağazalarla dolu bir cadde. Caddenin muhtelif köşelerinde kiminin elinde bavullar olan genç ve orta yaşlı yabancı kadınlar bekleşiyor. Burası özellikle son yıllarda bebek ya da hasta bakıcılığında neredeyse moda haline gelen Moldovyalı, Ukraynalı, Türkmen ve Gürcü kadınların iş bulduğu modern bir işçi pazarı. Çocuk bakıcısı arayan bir aile olarak yanlarına yaklaştığımızda, ortalama 600 dolara ne iş olsa yapmaya hazır onlarca kadın sarıyor etrafımızı…

Türkiye’de çalışan kadın sayısının artmasıyla birlikte ortaya çıkan ve gün geçtikçe büyüyen bakıcılık sektöründe işçi bulmak 2 yolla mümkün. Ya İstanbul’da sayısı 165′e varan resmi ajanslara başvuracaksınız, ki bu ajanslar sadece Türk bakıcılarla çalışıyor. Ya da gayri resmi yollardan işçi bulmak için kaçak ajanslarla anlaşacaksınız veya Türkiye’ye gelen kadınların kaçak şekilde iş bulmak için toplandığı Dadaş Parkı’nın yolunu tutacaksınız. Tıpkı bizim yaptığımız gibi…
Türkiye’de her geçen gün büyüyen bu kaçak iş gücünü ise dağılan Bağımsız Devletler Topluluğu (BDT) ülkeleri besliyor. Moldova, Ukrayna, Gürcistan ve Türk Cumhuriyetleri en önemli kaynak. Bu ülkelerden turist pasaportuyla Türkiye’ye giriş yapanların sayısı yılda 300-400 bini buluyor. Gelenlerden kadın olanların bir bölümü ise ya kaçak ajanslar aracılığıyla ya da kendi kendilerine bakıcılık işi buluyor. Görüştüğümüz bakıcılardan biri sayılarının 10 bin civarında olduğunu söylüyor.

Türk bakıcılardan daha cazip
Kaçak pazarda dönen para ise milyon TL’lerle ifade ediliyor. Çünkü sadece Bakırköy bölgesinde 80′e yakın kaçak ajansın bulunduğu, Laleli’de ise bu rakamın çok daha fazla olduğu belirtiliyor. Ajansların pazarladığı kadınlar sigorta ya da güvence talep etmeden, aylık ortalama 600 dolara çalıştıkları evde kalmak suretiyle iş buluyor. Kaçak ajanslar hem kadınlardan hem de işverenden komisyon alıyor. Yeni gelen kadınlar ise çetin pazarlıklarla 450 dolara da “tamam” diyor. Ajansla ya da kadınlarla herhangi bir resmi anlaşma yapmayan işveren, kadınların kaçmasını önlemek için pasaportlarına el koyuyor.

Yabancı bakıcıların bu kadar cazip olmasının nedeni ise, yerli bakıcılara oranla daha uygun fiyata gelmeleri. Ayrıca çoğunlukla üniversite mezunu oluyor ve yabancı dil biliyorlar. Hepsi yatılı kalabiliyor, sigorta istemiyor ve her işi yapıyorlar. İŞKUR’a bağlı özel istihdam büroları ise yasal olarak sadece Türk bakıcılarla çalışabiliyor. Bu bürolara kayıtlı Türk bakıcılar, aylık en az bin TL istiyor. Üstelik yerli bakıcılar çoğunlukla evde kalmayı da kabul etmiyor. Bu özellikle yaşlıların bakımı için Türk bakıcıları cazip olmaktan çıkarıyor.

Turist vizesiyle gelen yabancı kadınlar, vize süreleri dolunca da Türkiye’de kalmaya devam ediyor. Çoğunlukla da yakalanmıyorlar. Ancak yakalandıklarında ya da ülkeden çıkış yaparken vizesiz kaldıkları her ay için 90 TL ödüyorlar.

‘Partici Birol’, 500 dolara buluyor

Dadaş Parkı’nda çevremizi saran Moldovalı kadınlarla, çocuk bakıcılığı için pazarlıktayız. Kadınlar pazarlığı 750 dolardan açıyor. Biz ise 400 dolardan fazlasını veremeyeceğimizi söylüyoruz. Pazarlığımız tüm hızıyla sürerken, burada 400 dolara işçi bulamayacağımızı belirten Angel adlı bir kadın, “Bu kişi size yardım edebilir” diyerek bir kart veriyor. Kartın üzerinde, “Partici Birol, her nevi ayakkabı ve terlik alınır satılır” ibaresi var. Partici Birol, yüzlerce benzeri olan “kaçak ajans”lardan biri. Yüzdeyle çalışan bu ajanslarda hiçbir alışveriş resmi değil. Müşteri kılığında aradığımız Birol, 400 dolara işçi bulamayacağını, ancak eğer istersek Gürcü veya Ermeni kadın olmak kaydıyla 500 dolara kadar inebileceğini söylüyor. Birol’un 2 haftalık deneme süresi var. Eğer bakıcı kadını beğenmezseniz iade edebiliyorsunuz. Bu süre içinde pasaport da sizde kalıyor. Ama haftada bir günlük tatil günü için 25-30 TL harçlık gerekiyor. Birol, bizden ve kadından 150′şer dolar komisyon alıyor. Bu görüşmeden sonra, daha ucuza kadın işçi bulmak için Moldovalılar’ın bize tavsiye ettiği bir diğer yer olan Türkmenler’in mekanına gidiyoruz.

Aranan dadı bulunuyor
Laleli Caddesi’ne yakın izbe bir otelin ön bürosundayız. Görevli Çetin Bey, bize yardımcı olacağını söylüyor ve Sultan kod adlı kadını çağırıyor. Sultan’ın ön dişleri altından. 4 yıldır Laleli’de. Kendisi de çalışıyor. 400 dolara yüzü buruşuyor ama yine de çıkış yolunu buluyor. Yukarı çıkıp Zarina’yı getiriyor. Zarina, 24 yaşında. 4 yaşındaki oğlunu Türkmenistan’ın başkenti Alma Ata’da bir hafta önce bırakıp, önce gemiyle Trabzon’a oradan da otobüsle İstanbul’a ulaşmış. Şimdi bir başkasının çocuğuna bakmak üzere Sultan’ın bizimle yaptığı pazarlığı takip etmeye çalışıyor. Türkçesi yok denecek kadar az, gözleri hüzünlü, çekingen duruyor. Çocuğa 450 dolara bakmayı kabul ediyor. Sultan, “Dili açılınca bu paraya gitmez. Şu anda yeni olduğu için kabul ediyor. Her işi yapar, haftada bir size uygun olan gün izin yapar. Pasaportunu alırsınız, size bir problem çıkarmaz. Çıkarırsa zaten biz buradayız” diyor. Zarina, anlamasa da dolar hesabını biliyor ve kafasıyla onaylıyor. Aslında ne biz ona yapılan tercümeyi anlıyoruz, ne o bize kendisi üzerinden verilen vaatlerin farkında. Sultan ikna olmadığımızı görünce, “Kendi çocuğuna hep o bakmış. Merak etmeyin çok iyi anlar” diyor. Bu kez, kaçak çalışma konusundaki rahatsızlığımızı dile getiriyoruz. “Onun görevi yakalanmamak. Eğer isterseniz cezasını ödeyip onu yasallaştırırsınız ama gerek yok” diyor.

Bu arada Dadaş Parkı’nda sadece iş bulunmuyor. Burada kadınların haftanın belli günlerinde ülkelerine para gönderebilecekleri bir sistem var. Otobüsler kalkıyor, sadece bu işle görevli çalışanlar bulunuyor. Bir kadın, “Paramızı banka aracılığıyla göndersek inanılmaz bir ücret alınıyor. Halbuki burda sadece yüzde 3 gibi bir rakam kesiliyor” diyor. Ayrıca giysi, yiyecek ve her türlü eşya buradan kalkan otobüslerle gelip, kadınlara ulaşıyor.

TRAJİK HİKAYELER KOL GEZİYOR
Dadaş Parkı’nda veya Türkmenler’in bulunduğu mekanda en önemli mesele güvenlik. Güvenlikten kasıt, kadının bırakıp kaçma ihtimali. Çözümse kadının pasaportuna el koymak. Ancak yine alıcı kılığında konuştuğumuz çevre esnafı, “Bu kadınlar ‘pasaportumu kaybettim” diyerek konsolosluklara başvurup, geçici pasaportla ülkelerine kaçıyor” diye bizi uyarıyor. Öte yandan, kaçak oldukları için aylarca çalışıp para alamayan, kötü muameleye maruz kalan kadınların hikayeleri de güvenlik meselesinin önemini bir kez daha ortaya koyuyor.

Lalelide esnaf yabancı kadınlara güvenmiyor. Anlattıkları hikayeler kan donduruyor. Ancak, Moldovalı kadınların anlattıkları da tüyler ürpertici… Bir esnaf, “Bunlar, çocuğunuzu parkta bırakıp kaçar, izini bulamazsınız. Evini soyar gider” diyor. Diğeri, başka bir hikaye anlatıyor: “Yabancı kadın, bakıcılık yaptığı kadının evine geceleri arkadaşlarını almaya başlamış. Kadın gürültüden şüphelenince de ‘akşamları eski kocanın ruhu ziyaret ediyor, gürültü oradan geliyor’ demiş. Bunun üzerine kızına durumu anlatan yaşlı kadının kızı, gece evi basmış, durumu ortaya çıkarmış.”

5 yıl önce Moldova’dan gelen Maara ise, “Bize kötülük yapılmadıkça neden kötülük yapalım, 4 yaşında çocuğu neden parka bırakıp kaçalım?” diyor. O da yakın bir arkadaşının başına geleni anlatıyor: “55 yaşında bir arkadaşım kendi yaşının geçkinliğine güvenerek, yaşlı bir adamın evine bakıcı olarak girdi, pasaportunu da verdi. 2 ay boyunca hem evin oğlu hem adamın tecavüzüne uğradı. ‘Seni yabancı şubeye teslim ederiz’ diye tehdit etmişler. Bir şey yapamadı. Sonunda biz yol parasını denkleştirip evine gönderdik.”

Servet kazanıyoruz

Peki, niye geliyorlar? Maara, “Moldova’da bir doktor ayda 300 dolar, bir öğretmen ise 200 dolar civarında kazanıyor. Yani burada bir servet kazanıyoruz, eğer iyi insanlara karşılaşırsak ve işimizi yapabilirsek sıkıntıya değiyor. Ama çok ağır tecrübeler yaşayıp dönen arkadaşlarımız da oluyor” diye konuşuyor. Maara, özellikle kendilerine yapıştırılan ‘fuhuş’ yaftasından kurtulmak için de çaba gösterdiklerini vurguluyor. “Düzgün bir iş bulup burada çalışmak istiyoruz, ancak ne Türkler’de ne de bizde beş parmağın beşi bir değil” diyen Maara, kendisinin de yaşlı bakımında çalışmayı tercih ettiğini belirtiyor ve “Aile çok iyi olsa da, çocuklar çok acımazsız olabiliyor. ‘Sen pisliksin, şeytansın’ diyerek lakaplar takabiliyorlar” diyor.

Merdivenaltı dadılar sektöre darbe vurdu

Haye İşçi Bulma Kurumu Özel istihdam Bürosu Genel Müdürü Haye Yurdusever ise, sadece Bakırköy bölgesinde 80′e yakın kaçak istihdam bürosu olduğunu ve bu firmalardaki kaçak çalışanların sektöre büyük bir darbe vurduğunu söylüyor. Yurdusever, “Bir istihdam bürosu kurmak için 4 yıllık akademik eğitim görmüş olmanız ve 21 bin TL teminat yatırmanız gerekiyor. Yanlış yaptığımızda paramız yanıyor. Her 3 ayda bir İŞKUR bizden neler yaptığımıza dair rapor alıyor. Çok sıkı bir kontrol altındayız, ancak kaçak firmalar milyarlarca TL kazanıyor” diyor.

Bu firmaları rapor ettiklerini, ancak devlet mekanizması yavaş işlediği için kaçak firmanın bundan faydalandığını anlatan Yurdusever, sözlerine şöyle devam ediyor: “Bu firmalar elemandan komisyon veya ne koparabilirlerse alıyor. Biz böyle bir şey yaparsak belgemiz iptal olur. Kaçak bir firmanın sadece ön görüşmeden 25 TL aldığını öğrendik. İşverenler bu konuda bilinçlenmeli. Bu insanlar potansiyel tehlike saçıyor, herşeyinizi öğreniyor ve onları hiç tanımıyorsunuz. Gerçek güvence için mutlaka İŞKUR denetiminde olan istihdam bürolarına gidilmesi gerekiyor. Türk dadıları da yabancı uyruklu çalışanların aldığı fiyatlar nedeniyle fiyatlarını yükseltti. Eskiden 600-700 TL’ye bu işi yapmak isteyenler, şu anda bin 500, 2 bin TL talep ediyor.”

Hem ucuz hem de kaliteli
Koç Üniversitesi Göç Araştırmaları Programı Direktörü Prof. Dr. Ahmet İçduygu, Türkiye’de çalışan kaçak yabancı işçilerin sirkülasyon halinde olmak kaydıyla birkaç yüz bin civarında olduğunu söylüyor. Yabancı işçilerin 5 sektörde yoğunlaştıklarını belirten İçduygu, bu sektörleri arz ve talebe göre şöyle sıralıyor: “Eğlence ve fuhuş, ev işleri, tekstil, tarım ve servis hizmetleri. İçduygu, “Yabancı kaçak işçilere yapılan harcamaya bakarak, çok para kazandıklarını düşünebilirsiniz ama gerçek böyle değil. Ellerine kalan çok daha az. Aracılar, sınırda ödedikleri cezalar, kazançlarını götürüyor” derken, yerli işçilerin durumunu da parlak bulmuyor. İçduygu, “Türkiye’de ekonominin yarısı kaçak. Yerli işgücü de kayıtlı çalışmıyor” diyor.

Yabancıların yerli işgücünün işlerini çaldıkları iddiasının da pratikte doğru olmadığını vurgulayan İçduygu, şöyle konuşuyor: “Görece daha kaliteli ve ucuz işgücü sunuyorlar. Kapitalist işgücü pazarının dinamikleri içinde bir pazar yaratmaları doğal. Türkiye’nin böyle bir işgücüne ihtiyacı var. Ardahan’a tanık oldum. O kentte işsizlik var ama hem ucuz hem de iteli olduğu için yabancı tarım işçisi çalıştırıyorlar. Türkiye’ye çalışmak üzere gelen yabancıların neredeyse yüzde 90′ı kaçak. Bunun nedeni biraz da, devletin göçmen ülkesi haline gelmek istememesi. Bu nedenle yasada büyük problemler olmasa da, idari olarak sorun çıkabiliyor.”

Almanya’nın en ‘uyumsuz’u Türkler

Almanya’da yapılan yeni bir araştırmaya göre, ülkedeki en uyumsuz göçmen grubun Türkler olduğu ortaya çıktı.

FULYA CANŞEN/NTVMSNBC

BERLİN – Berlin’deki Nüfus ve Kalkınma Enstitüsü’nün yaptığı bir araştırmaya göre, Almanya entegrasyon konusunda sınıfta kaldı. “Kullanılmayan potansiyel” başlıklı araştırma, Almanya’da yasayan 15 milyon göçmenin çoğunun kötü eğitim aldığı, iş bulamadığı ve sosyal yaşama yeterince katılamadığını gösteriyor.

En az entegre olan göçmen grupların başını ise Türkler çekiyor.

İlk kez farklı ulustan gelenlerin ve Alman pasaportu alanların ayrı ayrı analiz edilip, karşılaştırılması yöntemiyle yapılan araştırma sonuçlarına göre, Almanya’da yaşayan Türk kökenlilerin % 30’u herhangi bir diplomaya sahip değil.

Sadece % 14’ü üniversite eğitimi almaya hak kazanabilen Türk göçmenler, istihdam piyasasında da başarısız.

En çok ev kadının bulunduğu topluluğu da Türkler oluşturuyorlar ve çoğu sosyal yardım alarak yaşıyor.

Türklerin % 93’ü yine Türklerle evleniyor ve gettolarda yaşamayı tercih ediyor.

Entegrasyon tartışması Almanya’da camii inşaası, başörtüsü yasağı ya da yabancılar arasında artan suç oranlarıyla başlıklara taşınıyor.

26.01.2009

From Pakistan, Taliban Threats Reach New York

KIRK SEMPLE

Last June, Bakht Bilind Khan, who was living in the Bronx and working at a fast-food restaurant, returned to his village in the volatile Swat Valley of northern Pakistan to visit his wife and seven children for the first time in three years.

But at a dinner celebration with his family, his homecoming suddenly turned dark: several heavily armed Taliban fighters wearing masks appeared at the door of their house, accused Mr. Khan of being an American spy and kidnapped him.

During two weeks of captivity in a nearby mountain range, Mr. Khan says, he was interrogated repeatedly about his wealth, property and “mission” in the United States. He was released in exchange for an $8,000 ransom. His family, threatened with death if they did not leave the region, is now hiding elsewhere in Pakistan.

“Our Swat, our paradise, is burning now,” said Mr. Khan, 55, who returned to the United States and is working at a fast-food restaurant in Albany, trying to reimburse the friends and relatives who paid his ransom.

Pakistani immigrants from the Swat Valley, where the Taliban have been battling Pakistani security forces since 2007, say some of their families are being singled out for threats, kidnapping and even murder by Taliban forces, who view them as potential American collaborators and lucrative sources of ransom. Some immigrants also say they, too, have been threatened in the United States by the Taliban or its sympathizers, and some immigrants say they have been attacked or kidnapped when they have returned home.

The threats have brought an added dimension of suffering for the immigrants, who say fresh reports of hardship arrive here every day, sometimes several times a day, and spread quickly among the several thousand Swati immigrants in the New York region: families driven from their villages, houses being destroyed, relatives disappearing. The fate of the valley dominates conversation among the exiles.

“It’s 24/7,” said Zakrya Khan, 30, the owner of two gyro restaurants in New York whose staff of 15 is almost entirely Swati. “This is their only concern now.”

Though every community of exiles from a conflict-ridden country suffers when relatives who remain behind are caught in the fight, the immigrants from Swat also bear the burden of believing that their presence in America is endangering their relatives back home, where the Taliban have imposed their authority over vast swaths of the region, about 100 miles northwest of Islamabad.

More than that, Swati immigrants say they have been left with the sense that the more they try to help their families back home, the more harm they may do, an excruciating dilemma that has filled many with a combination of helplessness, fear, sadness and guilt.

If they speak out, they fear, it could lead to retribution for them or their relatives in Pakistan. Some exiles who have participated in anti-Taliban political demonstrations here or agitated in support of Swat residents say that they and their families have come under pressure as a result of these activities.

And few dare leave the United States for fear of losing the single largest income stream their families have.

“To go to their rescue would actually make the situation worse,” said Mr. Khan, the restaurant owner. “We are the only source of income for these people. If we leave the United States, they’ll have no one supporting them.”

The Pakistan government announced Monday that it had struck a tentative deal with the Taliban amid a 10-day ceasefire to establish Islamic law in the region and suspend military operations there. But some Swati immigrants said they were skeptical the deal would hold — two other accords in the last six months failed — and they were bracing for a resumption of violence.

Iqbal Ali Khan, 50, the general secretary of the American chapter of the Awami National Party, a dominant secular political party in Swat, said he had received three threatening phone calls in the past two months. The callers, who did not identify themselves, told Mr. Khan he was “too active” and ordered him to bring $1 million with him on his next trip to Pakistan.

“Or you know what will happen,” one caller said, according to Mr. Khan, who is also the owner of a limousine company based in Queens. “We know your family.”

The most recent call came last Tuesday. “You’re still active,” Mr. Khan quoted the caller as saying. “This is the last warning.”

On Wednesday, he received a dire call from his brother, who at that very moment was hiding in a forest on the outskirts of the valley’s largest city, Mingora, with their 97-year-old father.

The elder Mr. Khan had received a letter from the Taliban earlier in the day warning him that he would be kidnapped unless he handed over $200,000. The note specifically instructed the father to get the money from his son in the United States.

“My 97-year-old father is on the run,” exclaimed the younger Mr. Khan, his voice choking up in sadness. “Tragedy! Tragedy!”

Before the start of the Taliban’s incursion into the region in 2007, Swat was treasured as a vacation spot, particularly among Pashtuns, the ethnic group that dominates the region. Known as “the Switzerland of Pakistan,” it has snowy peaks, fruit orchards, lakes and flower-covered meadows.

But the tourism industry has evaporated amid the Taliban’s uprising, and by some estimates, hundreds of thousands of residents have abandoned their homes, fleeing for Mingora or other regions of Pakistan. Immigrants have been coming from the Swat Valley for years, well before it became a front in the war between the Taliban and Pakistani government troops. There are an estimated 6,000 to 7,000 people from the Swat Valley in the United States, about half of whom live in the New York metropolitan region, said Taj Akbar Khan, president of the Khyber Society USA, a Pakistani charitable and cultural organization. In New York, Swatis generally live within the larger Pakistani population, which is concentrated in Coney Island, Brooklyn, and Astoria, Queens, among other neighborhoods.

Many Swatis here suspect that the Taliban have spies among them; that insecurity mirrors the rampant mistrust in the valley, where many residents fear the Pakistani security forces almost as much as the Taliban and do not know whom to trust.

Perhaps with the help of stateside sympathizers, the Taliban have been adept at tracking the flow of money from the United states, and have turned increasingly to kidnapping recipients of the money with the goal of securing hefty ransoms, the exiles say.

Ajab, the owner of a fried chicken shop in Paterson, N.J., said the Taliban kidnapped a brother-in-law last year near the family’s village in the Swat Valley.

During 75 days of captivity, the Taliban fighters told the brother-in-law that one of the reasons they had kidnapped him was that he had relatives in the United States, including Ajab. The fighters released him after the family paid a $20,000 ransom.

“We are sad that because of us, our relatives are getting into trouble,” said Ajab, 51, who spoke only on the condition that his last name not be published, to protect his family’s identity.

Not all of the violence visited upon the families of exiles has been due to the exiles’ presence here. But the difficulty of watching it at such a remove has been no less agonizing.

Leaving behind his family in Swat, Jihanzada came to the United States in 2001 to earn money to build his dream house back home and to pay for the future weddings of his five children. He worked numerous menial jobs in Boston and New York.

“Everything I earned I sent back home,” he said in an interview last week at a fast-food restaurant in Brooklyn where he works.

He, too, spoke on the condition that he not be fully identified for fear of alerting the Taliban to his presence in the United States. “If they knew I was here, they would definitely harm my family,” he said. “If they got information that I talked to you, they can come and target me.”

The house was completed early last year; Jihanzada still has not seen it: he has not returned to Pakistan since he left eight years ago.

But during fighting last summer between the Taliban and the Pakistani security forces, a bomb dropped by Pakistani military aircraft demolished the house. Jihanzada’s family had evacuated before the fighting began and are now living in Mingora. His eldest daughter’s wedding, scheduled for next month, was postponed.

Jihanzada, who said he could not return to Pakistan because he had an asylum petition pending, received photographs of the destruction soon after the attack. Asked how he felt when he first saw the photographs, he dropped his head, concealing his face behind the brim of his brown restaurant cap and trying to stem a surge of sadness. He stayed like that for a full minute, saying nothing.

Finally, he continued: “This is every Pashtun’s dream: You earn, you build a home, your children grow up in it and when you get old you go and sit at home and enjoy life. I’m sad because my struggles start again.”

Majeed Babar contributed reporting.

New York Times – 17.02.2009

CfP: Diasporas, Migration and Identities: Crossing Boundaries, New Directions

Diasporas, Migration and Identities: Crossing Boundaries, New Directions

University of Surrey, 11-12 June 2009

‘Diasporas, migration and identities’ has been the subject of a major national research programme funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) in the UK since 2005.  Its central concerns have also been at the heart of the work of the Centre for Research on Nationalism, Ethnicity and Multiculturalism (CRONEM). The aim of this international conference is to examine the past and present impact of diasporas and migration on nation, community, identity and subjectivity, culture and the imagination, place and space, emotion, politics, law and values.

Confirmed speakers:

Ien Ang, Professor of Cultural Studies, University of West Sydney, Australia

Robin Cohen, Professor of Development Sociology, University of Oxford / Honorary Professor at the University of Warwick, UK

Peggy Levitt, Associate Professor, Wellesley College, USA

Ato Quayson, Professor of English and Director of the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies at the University of Toronto, Canada

We invite abstracts that address the following themes in the UK and beyond:

• Migration, settlement and diaspora: modes, stages and forms
• Representation, performance, discourse and language
• Subjectivity, emotion and identity
• Objects, practices and places
• Beliefs, values and laws
• The role of youth in relationship to diasporas, migration and identities
• Diasporic economics and labour markets
• The recognition of multiple origins and mixedness
• The politics of immigration and integration
• Public opinion and public policy
• Ethnic identity politics

For more information and submission forms,  please visit:

http://www.surrey.ac.uk/Arts/CRONEM/index.htm

The closing date for abstracts is 2 February 2009.

CfP: Migrations and Diasporas

The Caribbean Philosophical Association (CPA) will hold its 2009 meeting at the University of Miami, Coral Gables Campus on August 12-15, 2009.

The main themes of the conference are Migrations and Diasporas. Scholars in any discipline are invited to submit presentation proposals and panels.

Presentations are not limited to examine the Caribbean or its Diaspora. We are also interested in the “global south” at large. Send submissions for panels and abstracts of individual presentations by February 15, 2009, by email to  caribphil@yahoo.com. Abstracts should succinctly state the problem(s) addressed and identify the sources used in one paragraph to one page per individual presentation. All titles must include the name of the presenter, the highest university degree obtained, and the current institutional affiliation, if any. We will review proposals in English, French, and Spanish and will create panels for presentations in those three languages.

Contact Information:

Nelson Maldonado-Torres

University of California Berkeley

Email: nmt@berkeley.edu

30 Pakistanis deported by Turkey arrive

Staff Report / Daily Times

RAWALPINDI: Thirty illegal immigrants on Saturday landed at Benazir Bhutto Shaheed International Airport after being deported from Turkey.

Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Immigration sources told Daily Times that the deportees had gone to Turkey on fake documents via unauthorised routes in a bid to slip into Europe. They said a flight of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), PK-762, airlifted the illegal immigrants from Istanbul to Islamabad.

Of the deportees, 27 belong to Gujranwala, two to Rawalpindi and one to Karachi, the sources said, adding, the FIA Immigration staff had handed over the deportees to FIA Passport Cell after preliminary investigation.

They said the FIA Passport Cell would question the deportees to trace human traffickers.

4.1.2009

(Daily Times is a Pakistan-based daily journal)