Khatibzadeh: We Are Following Up on the Situation of “Missing” Kurds in Turkey
No news about the fate of 9 Iranian Kurdish refugees that Turkey handed over to a group it supports in Syria. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman says the situation of the “missing” group in Turkey is being followed through Iranian embassies in Ankara and Damascus.
9 Iranian Kurdish refugees were handed over to the “Free Syrian Army” instead of being deported to their country after being detained in Turkey. These individuals, consisting of 8 people from Paveh and one person from Sardasht, had identified themselves as Syrian Kurds at the time of their arrest.
Said Khatibzadeh, spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, told the FARS news agency regarding the “disappearance” of these citizens that Tehran is following the issue through its consular sections and embassies in Ankara and Damascus: “In this regard, we have also submitted a note to the Turkish side requesting information about their situation.”
He emphasized that Iran is also seriously following up on the issue through its embassy in Damascus.
The families of these Kurdish citizens said they wanted to go to Europe through Turkey and that smugglers had advised them to identify themselves as Syrian Kurds so they would not be returned to Iran.
Relatives of these refugees, due to lack of news and concerns about their fate over the past four and a half months, held a sit-in in front of the Turkish embassy in late December.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman had also said in his previous weekly briefing: “The issue of illegal entry of several Iranian citizens during Turkey’s Foreign Minister’s trip to Tehran was placed as one of the issues on the agenda of talks, and it was decided that border guard forces will advance this matter together.”
Turkish officials have not commented on this issue so far.
According to Kurdish media and the families of detained Iranian citizens, they had left for Turkey in March 2021. Police arrested them on September 22 and sent them to Syria four days later.
The human rights website “Hengaw” identified these refugees as Bahman Shadaravan, Masoud Haidari, Saeid Ahmadi, Damanvand Paksarest, Afshar Rostami, Hedayat Rakhzadi, Arman Rashidi, Mobin Valde-Bigei, and Ferdin Darvishpur, and wrote: “They are now being held in one of the camps affiliated with groups supported by Turkey.”
Hengaw writes: “These 9 refugees had a brief video call with their families about two months ago through a humanitarian organization. According to their families, these 9 refugees have become physically very weak and have not shaved.”
Meanwhile, FARS news agency reported that a “Syrian terrorist group” has demanded $2,000 for the release of each of these citizens in contact with their families.
Source: DW
