91997E3756

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3756/97 by Amedeo Amadeo (NI) to the Commission (17 November 1997)

Subject: The Kurds and political asylum

The Kurds are neither bandits nor infiltrators and the refugees who have been arriving in Italy (those of Kurdish origin, at least) have created problems at international level as regards political asylum. We cannot ignore the fact that the men in question, who are being assailed and pursued in a secret war which (unfortunately for them) has little impact on civilian society, are oppressed (often violently) and cannot live peaceably on either Iraqi, Iranian, Syrian or Turkish territory.

If the Kurds do not deserve refugee status, who does deserve it?

No international organization is willing to take the initial step, even on purely humanitarian grounds - a shameful situation which Europe should be the first to remedy.

Given that Europe needs to give some consideration to the meaning, in a civilized society, of political asylum and to the need to accommodate new arrivals and find work for them within the EU Member States, and since, following the conclusion of the Schengen agreements, Puglia must now be regarded as a European, rather than an Italian border, could the Council and the Commission ensure that the serious problem of the Kurds vis-à-vis Europe is dealt with as a matter of urgency, with the immediate involvement of the UN Security Council?

It should be borne in mind that ignoring the 'Kurdish question' is likely to make matters worse, by causing the Kurds to flee to other European countries or by provoking a dangerous armed conflict on a distrastrous scale which will be impossible to control.

Answer given by Mr Van den Broek on behalf of the Commission (10 December 1997)

The question of granting refugee status to asylum seekers in the Member States is the competence of Member States. Nevertheless, a joint position on the harmonised application of the definition of the term 'refugee' in Article 1 of the 1951 Geneva Convention ((Joint position of 4 March 1996 defined by the Council on the basis of Article K.3 of the Treaty on European Union on the harmonised application of the definition of the term 'refugee' in Article 1 of the Geneva convention of 28 July 1951 relating to the status of refugee (OJ L 63, 13.3.1996). )), to which the Honourable Member could usefully refer, has been adopted within in the framework of the cooperation in the fields of justice and home affairs under Title VI of the Treaty on European union.

The very question of people coming from Iraq was raised at the General affairs Council on 6 October 1997, as well as at a meeting of Justice and home affairs ministers in Mondorf on 9-10 October 1997. It is now under examination in the relevant groups of the Council.