EUROPEAN RACE BULLETIN - Institute of Race Relations

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Incensed at what it regards as an assault on German custom andtradition, the CSU has warned that Germany will be changedinto an ‘Islamic republic’ and that foreign ‘ethnic and politicalconflicts’ will be imported. A CSU strategy paper describes theproposals as of ‘grave significance for the balance of politicalpower in Germany… This is a bare-faced attempt to try toentrench a red-green majority in Germany for decades by themass creation of voters’. Almost all of the 160,000 Turks eligibleto vote in this election supported the SPD and it is believedthat the vast majority of new voters will continue to supportthem. (Guardian 16.10.98, Junge Welt 15.10.98)Bavarian Right deports minor born in GermanyFollowing a decision by the Bavarian Administrative Court, a14-year-old boy has been deported to Turkey even though hewas born in Germany. But his parents, who were originally tobe deported alongside him, will remain in Germany.According to German law, foreign adolescents can bedeported without their parents if they are sentenced on groundsof a grievous or very grievous offence. Mehmet had been sentencedto one year in a young offenders’ institution for an incidentin which he struck a 19-year-old boy with a fence post.(Junge Welt 12.10.98)Increasing evidence of imprisonment and tortureof Kurds deported to TurkeyGovernment and courts are accused of indifference to themounting evidence that rejected Kurdish asylum-seekersdeported to Turkey are being imprisoned and tortured. InNeustadt, Lower Saxony campaigners have held press conferencesto highlight individual cases. In Cologne, two Kurdishasylum-seekers have won recognition of their plight in thecourts.The case of Husni AlmazThe Lower Saxony Refugee Council says that while the courtsare making irresponsible deportation orders, politicians are trivialisingwell-documented cases of imprisonment and torture,describing them as ‘exceptional isolated cases’. ‘How many more“exceptional isolated cases” will occur before the interior minister’scan bring themselves to halt these deportations?’ asksspokesperson Matthias Lange.The Refugee Council cites the case of Husni Almaz, a 27-year-old Kurdish refugee denied asylum only to be imprisonedand severely tortured in Turkey. In its ruling against HusniAlmaz, the Administrative Court of Osnabrück maintained thatit was ‘extremely unlikely’ that Kurds who had participated indemonstrations or had been interviewed by the Kurdish newsstation, Med TV, would be politically persecuted in Turkey. Thetestimony of a Kurdish refugee that Almaz’s mother had beenabused by Turkish soldier after her son appeared on Med TV inApril 1997 was ignored.Almaz had at first gone underground to escape deportationfrom Germany. But as he was placed on a wanted person’s listhis life in Germany became unbearable and he decided to returnto Turkey voluntarily, travelling incognito to his village ofSurekli in the district of Kiziltepe. On 19 July he was arrestedby police, interrogated about his activities in the PKK, imprisonedand sent to trail for participation in PKK demonstrationsand dissemination of PKK materials in Germany. In prison,Almaz was interrogated, blindfolded and severely abused. Hewas tortured into signing a confession which he has sinceretracted. (Junge Welt 12, 13.9.98)22IRR EUROPEAN RACE BULLETIN • NO 29 • MARCH 1999The Administrative Court in Neustadt doubtswhether Kurdish army deserters are threatendwith torture or higher sentences on the groundsof ethnic origin.Kurdish army deserter tortured and seriouslyinjuredThe PDS and the Human Rights Organisation (IHD) held ajoint press conference to highlight the plight of a Kurd deportedfrom Germany to Turkey where he was tortured and seriouslyinjured. Abdul Menaf Düzenli, 26, a Kurd, who in 1997refused military service and denounced the Turkish army as ‘fascist’,was told by the Administrative Court in Neustadt that itdoubted whether ‘Kurds are threatened with torture or highersentences after desertion on grounds of ethnic origin.’Subsequently deported on 14 July, Düzenli was immediatelyinterrogated by the Istanbul anti-terrorist police. A friendbribed police officers to release Düzenli back into the custody ofthe airport police. But he has since been transferred to the militarypolice to face trial. Suffering from severe neck pain, he isreportedly confused, frightened and dirty since he is not allowedto wash. (Junge Welt 20.8.98)Victory for Kurdish asylum-seekers in CologneSüleyman Yadirgi, a Kurd deported to Turkey where he wasimprisoned and tortured, managed to escape back to Germanywhere a court in Cologne has ruled against any further deportationattempt. And the first chamber of the administrative courtin Cologne has also questioned a decision by the Federal Officefor the Acceptance of Foreign Refugees to deport anotherKurdish refugee, Salman Dönikli. Both men had been active inthe recent protests and occupation of the Kurdish communityin Cologne and are supported by the No One is Illegal campaign.(Junge Welt 10-20.9.98)Berlin carries out group deportation of BosniansIn July, the authorities in Berlin deported 74 Bosnians toSarajevo, violating previous promises that group deportations ofBosnian refugees would not take place. According to Berlininterior minister, Jörg Schönbohm, ‘it is very important that wesignificantly reduce the number of refugees’. Voluntary return ofrefugees had been proceeding ‘too hesitantly’.The mass deportations followed police raids on asylumseekers’hostels and private flats. According to Der Taggespiegel,detainees – mostly from the Bosnian entity Republika Srpska –included traumatised persons who had lived through concentrationcamps, a person suffering from severe epilepsy and a singlemother whose daughter was not detained with her.Detainees also included people who had previously been assuredthat they would not be sent back by force because they hadenrolled in a programme which looks to the return of wholecommunities together. (Roma Rights, Summer 1998)Deportation OrdersNigerians face deportation from HanoverThe Green member of the regional parliament in Hanover, SilkeStokar, has protested at the treatment of six Nigerian asylumseekerswho have been forced to attend the Nigerian Embassyfor indentification and the issue of passports pending deportation.
The six Nigerians, all members of the Nigerian Associationin Niedersachsen, had sought church sanctuary in 1996. Theyhad since been placed in detention at Uelzen before beingforcibly taken to the Central Coordination Centre for Asylum-Seekers in Langenhagen. Police aggression has been criticised bydemonstrators protesting the Nigerian’s treatment. They saythat the police set dogs on them, biting one woman so badlythat she had to be taken to hospital. (Junge Welt 29.9.98)Bremen acts against two young Togolese asylumseekersDespite warnings from the Foreign Office, the Centre forEconomic Cooperation in Bonn and the UN Commission forRefugees, two young Togolese brothers were issued with deportationnotices. Schoolchildren in Bremen have launched anappeal to save the boys, whose father and brother were murderedin Togo. Now, the 16-year-old has been given temporarypermission to stay in Germany until he is eighteen. But the 18-year-old, who has gone underground, is still due to be deported.(Junge Welt 14.9.98)Church sanctuary for Macedonian Rom criticisedCDU state politician Uwe Eichelberg has attacked the churchfor giving sanctuary to a Roma family in Glinde. SinceDecember ‘94, the Roma family from Macedonia have lived inrooms at the St. Johannes parish in Glinde. When in the summerof ‘97 it became known that members of the family movedfreely in the city, the CDU accused the state parliament and thepolice of inaction. It also accused the priest and parish of givingfalse information about the human rights situation inMacedonia. (Romnews Network / RNC 26.8.98)Nationwide tour by supporters of refugeesIn the run-up to the general election, a ‘Caravan for the Rightsof Refugees and Migrants’ toured Germany to protest at asylumpolicies. The caravan started in Bremen and stopped off in citiesincluding, Hamburg, Bielefeld, Götingen and Büren. InHanover, supporters of the caravan clashed with the police. Butsupport for the caravan came from the local authority inGöttingen, where five asylum-seekers were being protected fromdeportation, by local parishioners. The authorities allowed thetown hall to be used for a rally. Authorities have denied that adecision to go ahead with the deportation of the NigerianAkubo Chukwudi, who has a case against police harassmentpending, has anything to do with his participation in theCaravan.The case of Akubo ChukwudiAkubo Chukwudi was a member of the United DemocraticFront of Nigeria. He had been living underground since his asylumclaim was rejected in 1994, but came out to participate inthe Caravan and to tell of his experiences in Nigeria. After helaunched proceedings against German police on grounds ofracist abuse, deportation proceedings were announced. SinceOctober, he has been held in detention in Buetzow,Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The International Human RightsBremen e.V has petitioned the Lower House of Parliament andthe State parliament of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.Hostility to protesters leads to harassment inHanoverSome local authorities were hostile to the Caravan. Bremen’sinterior minister, Ralf Borttscheller described the organisers as23IRR EUROPEAN RACE BULLETIN • NO 29 • MARCH 1999‘hooligans hostile to the state’. A warning was issued to Catholicparishes in Kassel of the ‘violent, anarchist background’ of thecaravan’s supporters. Caravan members attempting to rally outsidea detention centre in Schulenburg, Hanover, were harassedby employees from the city’s transport corporation who phonedthe police. The intervention of a Green Party MP resulted in thepolice agreeing that the demonstrators could make their way tothe detention centre under police escort. The director of theLower Saxony Refugee Council, Kai Weber, commented that‘Every weekend, tens of thousands of football fans are escortedby the police through stations and town centres without anyincidents. But a couple of anti-racist choruses are enough tobring the state forces into action’. (Junge Welt 17, 28, 31.8, 14,30.10.98)New potentially fatal border roadblockscondemnedPro Asyl has called for a public inquiry after an ARD televisiondocumentary warned that a roadblock system which has beenused since 1997 at the eastern borders with Poland – atKuestrin-Kietz, Frankfurt/Oder and Ludwigsdorf – has thepotential to claim lives. In 1995, the interior ministry had commissioneda report which warned against the introduction ofthe roadblocks, based on the British system ‘Cats Claw’. Itclaimed that the use of such roadblocks, which work by cuttingup the wheels of a vehicle, would make accidents unavoidable.Even though the interior ministry stressed that such a systemmust not be used on motorcylists, one officer interviewed onthe ARD documentary confirmed that the system, despite regulationsto the contrary, was indeed being used on motorcyclists.Eight more such roadblocks are planned. (Junge Welt14.10.98)Border law increases stop and search powersAccording to the interior ministry, the new border law introducedin September which empowers border police to stop andsearch without concrete suspicion anyone in trains, railway stationsand airports is proving successful, enabling police to identify500 people attempting to illegally enter Germany. (JungeWelt 23.10.98)Berlin : internal controls for asylum-seekerscriticisedWhen on 1 July, a special asylum-card was introduced in Berlin,the police prevented a street theatre group, attempted to drawattention to the suspicion and fear the card would engender,from performing. In another move, the Berlin länder havereformed the Berlin police law (ASOG) to initiate ‘inspectionssolely on the grounds of suspicion or suspicious behaviour’.Drawing on the American concept of ‘zero tolerance’, policeoperations, described as part of an ‘Action Safety Net’ have beenlaunched to ‘instil a feeling of safety in the population’. Theresult, according to the Junge Welt, is a hardline police approachreinforcing common prejudices and aimed at ‘anybody wholooks remotely like a foreigner’. It cites the example of a 40-strong police operation in the Treptower park in August duringwhich 18 people were arrested because they looked Romanianand on the suspicion that they were without a residence permit.According to the head of the police operation, the police actedbecause of complaints from nearby residents. He added cynically:‘the people looked ill and they have to be helped after all’.(Junge Welt 17, 23.8.98)
Page 1 and 2: ISSN 1463 9696 Covering the period
Page 3: on insufficient evidence. It also s
Page 6 and 7: important than the Roma. The Counci
Page 8 and 9: Hansen, has complained to the Minis
Page 10 and 11: larised, was aborted when 60 anti-r
Page 12 and 13: Our supporters must ‘prepare ment
Page 14 and 15: uation in other FN towns, the minor
Page 16 and 17: FORMER-YUGOSLAVIAHuman rights and t
Page 18 and 19: tion held in recent years was held
Page 20 and 21: the right-wing scene can take over
Page 24 and 25: Renewed criticism of withdrawal of
Page 26 and 27: parliamentary group. When the House
Page 28 and 29: asylum-seekers for congregating in
Page 30 and 31: ‘When spotted by coastguards, tra
Page 32 and 33: Employer organisation calls for dec
Page 34 and 35: assailants and charged them with as
Page 36 and 37: On 16 August, Corneliu Vadim Tudor,
Page 38 and 39: Workmates of Mohammed Rehman tied h
Page 40 and 41: head mobs who prevented them from r
Page 42 and 43: Dispersal and payment in kindPropos

EUROPEAN RACE BULLETIN - Institute of Race Relations

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