Poverty, political oppression and the violent Turkish military offensive against Kurdish rebels in Turkey's southeast are the main factors driving tens of thousands of Kurds to risk their lives and fortunes trying to enter Europe illegally.
"Only economic hardship, the inability to express one's own ideas and the presence of oppression and violence would force someone to leave his homeland," Hamit Geylani, deputy chairman of the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party told AFP.
The true extent of the clandestine migration is unknown because only those caught somewhere along the hazardous route appear in the official statistics, which in Turkey do not identify ethnic origin.
But some 21,000 Turkish nationals sought asylum in Europe in 1998, particularly Germany, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says without specifying whether they arrived on the continent as illegal immigrants before trying to legalize themselves.
According to Goc-Der, a support group for displaced Kurds, 99 percent of them are Kurds fleeing the turmoil in the region.
Another 5,000 would-be immigrants, Turkish and foreign, have been stopped by Turkish security forces while trying to sneak into Europe since January, according to official figures.
Italy and Greece are the usual destinations for immigrants leaving or traveling via Turkey from elsewhere in Asia, who pay up to 5,000 dollars each for the journey.
Ankara says some 336,500 people have been internally displaced by its crackdown on the Kurdistan Workers' Party's (PKK) 16-year rebellion for self-rule in southeastern Turkey.
The actual figure is close to 3.5 million, according to Mahmut Ozgur of Goc-der.
Yakup Karademir, a Kurdish journalist based in Istanbul, agreed the turmoil in the already impoverished region forced thousands of people to leave their homes.
"They cannot protect either their lives or their property in war. So they sell their entire belongings and choose to undertake dangerous journeys that often result in death," he told AFP.
The population of Lice town, for instance, fell from 11,000 to 800 after Turkish troops cracked down on its inhabitants in October 1993 when they refused to cooperate against the PKK, Ozgur said, citing local sources.
Southeast Turkey remains the most underdeveloped corner of the country, accounting for only five percent of Turkey's 1997 gross domestic product, whereas the industrialized northwest accounts for 35 percent, according to official statistics.
While 93 percent of villagers in northwest Turkey have drinking water, the ratio falls to 70 percent in the southeast.
In 1997, Turkey came under fire from Western countries as hundreds of illegal immigrants, mainly Kurds from Turkey and northern Iraq, arrived on the southern coast of Italy.
Ankara claimed that the exodus was organized by the PKK in a bid to tarnish its image.
The long-term solution to illegal immigration lies with Turkey's membership of the EU when Turks will enjoy freedom of movement within Europe and the authorities will be responsible for policing their part of the EU's external borders.
In the shorter term, Ankara has to improve the democratic rights of its Kurds to promote its candidacy for EU membership, declared in December, but it has so far been reluctant to take action.
Even so, observers say, the PKK's recent pledge to lay down its arms has led to a decrease in the number of people fleeing the region, and that the prospect of economic revival and a more relaxed political climate will further reduce the exodus.
"I believe the end of hot conflict has minimized illegal immigration into Europe from the area," Geylani said.
But the chances of ending the influx of immigrants from Turkey's southeast seem slim unless Ankara addresses the economic hardship of the Kurds and their demands for cultural rights such as broadcasts and education in Kurdish.
"As long as there is no lasting solution, people will not feel safe because there is still the risk of renewed clashes," Karademir said.
Besides being the country of origin of many Kurdish immigrants, Turkey is also a transit route for northern Iraqi Kurds and hopefuls from poor Asian countries seeking a better life in Europe.
Turkey's lack of specific laws on illegal immigration prevents authorities from dealing effectively with traffickers and the thousands of refugees or migrants passing through its territory.
Their desperation is illustrated by the testimony of a border official in Edirne province bordering Greece. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said some of the foreign immigrants they intercepted were on their third or fourth attempt to reach the West.
"We turn them over to the police to be deported, but due to financial shortages the police cannot buy them tickets back home but leave them at a train station. Once they are free, they immediately try to cross the border again," the official said -- ANKARA (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
