Socialist Resistance has carried a number of articles in support of the Ays, a Kurdish family who lived in Britain from 1999 to 2003. Now their battle to stop their removal from Germany to Turkey has reached a critical point. They are due to be removed on March 9. A German Anti-Deportation group, "Human Rights" are campaigning to stop their removal. Fifteen year old Beriwan Ay says: "I'd rather Germany killed me than send me back to Turkey to die". Yurdagul and Salih Ay fled Turkey in 1988 after repeated periods of imprisonment for speaking out for Kurdish rights. Mr Ay vas forced to go into the army and was beaten by Turkish soldiers for speaking Kurdish. Mrs Ay was placed in detention when she was eight months pregnant with her first child. She was held in a freezing underground cell for several days and went into premature labour -her baby only lived for one hour.
Mr and Mrs Ay initially claimed asylum in Germany and came to England when their case was rejected in 1999 with their four children. They lived in Gravesend for three years and were welcomed into the local community. In March 2002 Mr Ay was deported first to Germany and then to Turkey. He has not been heard of since.
In July 2002 the rest of the family were placed in detention where they spent one year 17 days, nearly all of it Germany. enough support. in Dungavel Removal Centre in Scotland. This is an unprecedented amount of time for children to be locked months. up in the UK. Despite a major campaign, in which Scottish Socialist Party MP Rosie Kane was heavily involved, and lots of supportive stories in the Scottish media, in August 2003 the family were deported from Scotland to
3595 Now the German authorities have issued a deportation order on the family. A humanitarian petition on behalf of the family has been submitted to the state government in Rheinland-Pfalz which has placed a temporary stop on the deportation. This stop could be made permanent if the campaign gets
None of the children have ever lived in Turkey, the country they are about to be sent back to. Kurdish people face massive discrimination in Turkey and human rights organisations say the situation has worsened in the last 12 • Write/fax/email a letter of support to the Herr Walter Zuber, Minister of the Interior requesting that the Ay Family are allowed to stay in Germany. • Fax (from UK): 00 49 61 3116 3595 rest of the world + 49 61 3116 •or email Herr Zuber at [email protected] Herr Walter Zuber, Minister of the Interior in Rheinland-Pfalz, Schillerplatz 3-5, 55116 Mainz, Germany Send copies to: Human Rights, Fax: 00 49 42 1498 7276, email: [email protected] For further information and model letter contact: http://www.humanrights.de/doc_en/countries/kurdistan/family_ay.htmlor www.ncadc.org.uk
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