After outrage, Germany halts deportation of Kurdish refugee to Turkey
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – German authorities have halted the planned deportation of a 22-year old female Kurdish asylum seeker to her native country of Turkey after public pressure from advocates who said that doing so would put her in serious danger of state prosecution.
On Tuesday afternoon, Dilek Agirman left the deportation center in the city of Eichstaat after immigration officials withdrew orders for her removal that was originally scheduled for last Wednesday.
Ulla Jelpke, a Left Party member of the German parliament who had previously criticized the plan to return Agirman to Turkey, later wrote in a tweet that, now that her deportation has been canceled, there is a need to grant her “safe residency status” in Germany.
In September, Agirman had signed a contract to be trained as a specialized salesperson in the food industry.
Local politicians and activists had asked Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) to stop the proceedings and to grant her a leave of absence for her training.
Members of the Kurdish community in the European nation sent a letter on Tuesday to Dr. Harald Schwartz, a member of the Bavarian Parliament and member of the State Parliament’s Petition Committee, urging him to stop the deportation.
“Ms. Agirman is being prosecuted on social media in Turkey for criticizing the (Turkish) government, such as Turkey’s invasion in the Kurdish areas of northern Syria. The preliminary investigation initiated against her is based on unfounded, illegal politically motivated “terror allegations,” wrote Mehmet Tanriverdi, co-leader of the Kurdish Community in Germany, in the letter.
“Several raids took place in the apartment of Agirman’s family in Turkey, although the authorities know that she is currently in Germany. The Turkish consulate has since refused to issue a new passport and a copy of the arrest warrant to Agirman,” it continued.
“All of these are signs that Ms. Agirman is threatened with legal proceedings, imprisonment and massive reprisals, if not life and death, if she returns (to Turkey).”
As a result, Dr. Schwartz confirmed that the deportation had been lifted that same day.
Tanriverdi told Kurdistan 24 on Thursday, “Together with other civil society organizations, we succeeded in preventing Dilek Agirman from being deported to Turkey. Our special thanks go to the Chairman of the Committee for Submissions and Complaints Stephanie Schuhknecht MdL and the member of the State Parliament Gülseren Demirel from the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen for their commitment to prevent the deportation.”
“It was very important to us that Ms. Agirman should not be deported to Turkey, as there she is threatened with prison and torture. We are confident that the Bavarian government will take a closer look at the political situation of refugees from Turkey in the future.”
Editing by John J. Catherine