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Executive Director's Trip to Turkey - October and November 2008 Report for the IRQR board of directors
The IRQR is dealing with some urgent cases involving individuals living in very difficult circumstances in Turkey. One of them was Peyman, a 26 year-old gay Iranian who fled from Iran to Turkey 13 months ago. He is in a very bad financial and emotional situation, minimizing his expenses by living with five other refugees in a small apartment located in a poor area of the city. Neli is a 38 year-old male to female transgender who fled from Iran to Turkey 14 months ago. Neli is not in a very good emotional state and needs support. Naval is an 18 year-old male to female transgender who is living with a sibling, Tarmin, a 21 year-old female to male transgender. Both of them are in terrible situation and they need support. So far, the IRQR has not been able to help them financially because of its limited resources but we are looking for a way to help them. Hossein and Shayan are an Iranian gay couple who have been waiting for about 5 months. Their families do not know where they are located because the couple fled without giving any notice. They are emotionally distraught and facing hardship. Fortunately, a few days after meeting with the IRQR, Peyman, Naval and Neli, Hossein and Shayan were all recognized as refugee by the UNHCR in Ankara. But there are many more people waiting for their application to be processed and the IRQR is striving to help them urgently. Neli told me that the “IRQR helped me a lot, they changed my life. Now after 14 months of stress, I can be hopeful that one day I will be in Canada. On that day, I will try to support the IRQR to help our queer brothers and sisters.” Peyman says: “I do not know how I should thank you for all the IRQR help. One more step is over now and I have to wait for the Canadian Embassy interview which I don’t know when it is. I hope they call me soon because my financial state does not allow me to wait for a long period of time. I should leave Turkey as quick as possible because I have to pay Turkish temporary residency fee for every single day that I am here and I do not have money.” I am so pleased to note the progress. The situation has improved since the time when I was recognized as a refugee. A special thanks should be expressed to the UNHCR staff members who are working hard on refugee cases. It not easy to deal with thousands of refugees but they are very supportive and effective. Also, I wish to thank John and all of our sponsors who supported us and paid all of my travel expenses.
Arsham Parsi Executive Director IRanian Queer Railroad - IRQR www . irqr . net info @ irqr . net (001) 416-548-4171 |
I went to Turkey
on October 28, 2008 to work on individual refugee cases for the IRanian
Queer Railroad. I traveled to Kayseri, Nigde, Isparta and Koniya to meet
Iranian queer asylum seekers. I spent hours listening to their stories
about fleeing from Iran and talking about their current situation in
Turkey. On November 18, I met with the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees in Ankara. I wrote an update report for the IRQR
and presented it to UNHCR office. I traveled with some asylum seekers to
Ankara in order to help them as much as possible.