Iraq: Difficulties for Turkmen people to obtain official Iraqi travel documents and exit visas; freedom of movement within Iraq and abroad

According to a 2000 Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NMFA) report, "[e]very day in Northern Iraq, twenty Turkish visas are made available to the Turkmen community" by Turkish border authorities where the visa applies to a whole family (Apr. 2000, 78). The report also noted that this allotment excludes those that are issued by the Turkish Embassy in Baghdad (ibid.). Furthermore,

[t]he number of visas allocated to Turkmens each day well exceeds demand within that population group. Consequently, the visas which Turkey issues to Turkmens are often resold on the black market. The waiting period for a Turkmen visa is considerably shorter than for a visa obtained via the KDP [Kurdish Democratic Party]. On the other hand, a sum amounting to hundreds of dollars has to be paid in order to obtain one.

The Turkish authorities and the UNHCR confirmed in the past that the 280 visas made available on a weekly basis were seldom all issued. In the past it was established that an average of seventy to one hundred individuals were entering Turkey on such visas. The main reason is the fact that the Turkmens are not fulfilling their quota and the surplus visas are subsequently being offered to other individuals at too high a price (ibid., 78-79).

Specifically focused on residents of Northern Iraq, the Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation (ACCORD) 6th European Country of Origin Information Seminar Final Report noted that the political entity of Kurdistan issues its own passport, identification and citizenship documents; however,

Kurdistan has not been officially recognized by the international community. Therefore, its passports or any other documents it issues cannot be considered authentic legal ones with only a differing issuing authority. At most one can ascribe them a quasi-legal status. Yet, as a sovereign state, the only legal authority issuing passports in Iraq is the relevant department within the relevant ministry in Baghdad [the passport directorate of the Ministry of the Interior (DIS Nov. 2001)] (ACCORD May 2001a, 50).

According to ACCORD, [t]he residents of Northern Iraq do not have the right to go to government officials in the government-controlled areas to ask for a passport. So they get their papers in the north, with forgery widespread" (ibid.). Yet, as the Danish Immigration Service (DIS) mission was informed by an international human rights organization, "it was very common for inhabitants of the Kurdish provinces to travel to Government-controlled Iraq in order to obtain passports" (Nov. 2001). Similarly, the NMFA report noted that "[i]t is common knowledge that persons from Northern Iraq apply for passports or have passports extended in Central Iraq" (Apr. 2000, 81).

Further the DIS report specified that there were cases when some Iraqi individuals, where the report does not specify ethnicity, have been refused passports, noting that

an Iraqi citizen who had come into conflict with the security services could not be issued a passport [or an exit permit] until the dispute in question has been resolved. Criminal and other relevant records are closely scrutinised before a passport is issued (Nov. 2001).

DIS also reported that one source had explained that certain categories of individuals; "university professors, academic staff in government ministries, certain groups of engineers and doctors, and army and police officers," were banned from obtaining exit permits (ibid.). Turkish scholar H. Tarik Oğuzlu stated that Turkomens have been "denied the rights ... to leave the country he resides" (Foreign Policy Institute 2001, 21).

Although the Danish fact-finding mission report found that according to an international humanitarian association "travel between the Kurdish-controlled region and Government-controlled Iraq is becoming increasingly easy (Nov. 2001), Oğuzlu argued that "Turkomans were denied rights to ... travel freely within the country" (Foreign Policy Institute 2001, 21). According to the 2000 ACCORD report, movement between Government-controlled and Kurdish-controlled regions, specifically when travelling north through the Fayda checkpoint was described as "quite tough" (ACCORD May 2001a, 46). In most cases one should give an explanation ... and have a permit from the military authority to get through the customs" (ibid.). The report advised people from the north travelling into Iraq's government-controlled territory that "those who are wanted or are politically active in the northern parties are not recommended to make this trip, unless it is arranged with the Iraqi government itself" (ibid.).

Recent information concerning Iraqi travel documentation and information on difficulties encountered while leaving or entering Iraq as well as freedom of movement within Iraq was published in the Danish Immigration Services' (DIS) Report on the Fact-Finding Mission to Iraq 8 to 15 March 1999. An excerpted portion of this report is attached to this Response.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation (ACCORD). May 2001a. 6th European Country of Origin Information Seminar - Final Report: "Iraq Country Report (Presentations by Mr Akif Atli and Ms. Hania Mufti 13 November 2000)." [Accessed 6 June. 2002]

Atif Atli was a "legal assistant with the UNHCR Branch Office in Ankara and Hania Mufti is described as having worked "on human rights issues in the Middle East for more than twenty years [and was] ... the London director for the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch (ACCORD May 2001b, 5).

_____. May 2001b. "About the Country Experts." [Accessed 11 June 2002]

Danish Immigration Service (DIS). November 2001. Report on the Fact-Finding Mission to Iraq 8 to 15 March 1999. [Accessed 5 June 2002]

Foreign Policy Institute [Ankara]. 2001. H. Tarik Oğuzlu. "The Turkomans of Iraq as a Factor in Turkish Foreign Policy: Socio-Political and Demographic Perspectives." [Accessed 4 June 2002]

Netherlands. Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NMFA). April 2000. Official General Report on Northern Iraq. [Accessed 10 June 2002]

Attachment

Danish Immigration Service. November 2001. Report on the Fact-Finding Mission to Iraq 8 to 15 March 1999. (10 page excerpt including sections 1, 3-5) [Accessed 5 June 2002]

Additional Sources Consulted

IRB Databases

NEXIS

Internet sites including:

Country Reports 2001

Danish Refugee Council

European Country of Origin Information Network

Global IDP Database

Iraqi Turkmen Front

Irak Türkmenleri Kültür Dernegi

Kerk ük Vakfi

Turkish Daily News

Turkmeneli Co-operation and Cultural Foundation

Turkmeneli: Homeland of the Iraqi Turkmen

United Kingdom, Immigration and Nationality Directorate. Iraq Assessment 2002

UN Commission of Human Rights

World News Connection