Down at the bottom of my hill, opposite the library
is a small religious community that houses a few
destitute asylum seekers. I met Jangez (not his
real name), a 36 year old Iranian Kurd at a recent
meal to welcome asylum seekers to Sheffield. We’d
talked about the Kurdish situation, and he’d agreed
to talk more with me.
His room overlooks the main road, and is bare but warm. He’s been in Sheffield for the past four years, after arriving in the UK after a mammoth journey from northern Iran through Turkey, Greece, Italy and France to Dover. For the previous 24 years or so he’d been a prisoner, held by Saddam’s troops in a prison camp in northern Iran with 20000 other people, after his family were captured. His parents died in the camp.
When the Americans deposed Saddam, the UN came and took a lot of the camp residents to Sweden, Finland and Norway, but not Jangez. So he began his epic journey.
‘The Americans came, Saddam’s troops went, the police and government were gone, all the people were gone. The camp closed, finished, but I had no home to go to.
‘The people said England was better, they weren’t staying in Turkey, France, they said England is better, so I go there.
‘I just have my clothes and a small bag. I was in a lorry. It was closed, then stopped with five people inside. I banged on the door, I had a small hole to see out. I saw three children outside, they called the police, they came, opened the door, wrote my name and said go there to the police station. I went to Dover, Ashford, Leicester, Leeds, then Darnall [Sheffield].
‘The Home Office refused me. What proof can I give? I have no nationality, I was in the camp for a long time. Kurds have a big problem in lots of countries, Iran, Turkey, Arab countries. All Arab countries have a problem with Kurds.’
His room overlooks the main road, and is bare but warm. He’s been in Sheffield for the past four years, after arriving in the UK after a mammoth journey from northern Iran through Turkey, Greece, Italy and France to Dover. For the previous 24 years or so he’d been a prisoner, held by Saddam’s troops in a prison camp in northern Iran with 20000 other people, after his family were captured. His parents died in the camp.
When the Americans deposed Saddam, the UN came and took a lot of the camp residents to Sweden, Finland and Norway, but not Jangez. So he began his epic journey.
‘The Americans came, Saddam’s troops went, the police and government were gone, all the people were gone. The camp closed, finished, but I had no home to go to.
‘The people said England was better, they weren’t staying in Turkey, France, they said England is better, so I go there.
‘I just have my clothes and a small bag. I was in a lorry. It was closed, then stopped with five people inside. I banged on the door, I had a small hole to see out. I saw three children outside, they called the police, they came, opened the door, wrote my name and said go there to the police station. I went to Dover, Ashford, Leicester, Leeds, then Darnall [Sheffield].
‘The Home Office refused me. What proof can I give? I have no nationality, I was in the camp for a long time. Kurds have a big problem in lots of countries, Iran, Turkey, Arab countries. All Arab countries have a problem with Kurds.’
Jangez Khan
:: 7 May 2008