The Triangle of Misery and Distress

Many refugees refer to Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus as the triangle of misery and distress. They travel from Turkey to Cyprus, an island in the eastern Mediterranean. The northern part is Turkish-speaking, while the southern part is Greek-speaking and a member of the European Union. This situation has led refugees to hold a glimmer of hope for this small island. Until 2002, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees was responsible for handling refugee cases in this country, but since then, the Cyprus Immigration Department has taken over this responsibility. According to refugees, despite being an EU member, this country does not adhere to the union's laws regarding basic rights and humane treatment of refugees. What is particularly painful for many Iranian refugees in this small country is the lengthy processing of their asylum requests, which can sometimes exceed ten years. Farhang, a 58-year-old Iranian refugee, states that he has been waiting for 15 years for a response regarding his asylum case: "I don't know where in Europe or European law it is recorded that someone should wait ten or twelve years for an asylum response. Where is it recorded that you can imprison a person, not allow them to work, and require them to report to the police every week like a suspect? This is an insult to a human being. The immigration officers treat people very poorly. There is no racism among the people of Cyprus; they are truly respectable people, but they say that Europeans and themselves are prioritized. Some Iranians have come here for labor, and these individuals are truly in distress." This situation is similar for Masoud, a 37-year-old Iranian refugee who has also been waiting for eleven years for his request to be processed. He states that it took nine years for them to ask him why he came to Cyprus. Masoud: "It has been eleven years since I came to Cyprus, the year I applied for asylum, I explained my reasons, but I couldn't gather much documentation. How was I to know that I needed documents when I wanted to leave the country? Because until now, I had not declared asylum anywhere; it took nine years before they finally interviewed me. This shows such negligence that I was not invited for any interview for nine years. After nine years, I was arrested on the street; something happened, I was on a motorcycle and got arrested, and then they found out where I had been until now. In court, they asked me where I had been until now? I told them in court that I should be asking you where you have been until now? I told them that I had taken every possible action through my lawyer; if you were looking for me, you should have come to my house; there is no reason to ask me where I was now. I truly saw this injustice with my own eyes. They would ask me how I eat! It was as if they were mocking me, asking how I make money. They wanted to exhaust me psychologically." However, the situation for Omid and his wife Mahsa, an Iranian refugee couple in Cyprus, turned out to be even harsher. The difficult conditions regarding their asylum request caused Mahsa, who was pregnant, to lose her baby: Omid: "Life in Cyprus is very difficult. Because in Cyprus, they do not provide you with any financial or residency assistance, and you are not allowed to work. Unfortunately, we received a letter without being interviewed that my wife's asylum request was rejected. I complained about this situation with some friends, asking what kind of conditions these are. Immediately, they interviewed me and said to wait for a response. After a year of the interview, we received no response. Unfortunately, my wife lost her baby due to this stress, which caused an infection in her body, and we had to undergo surgery because the baby had died in her womb for several weeks and had not yet been operated on. I followed up on my wife's treatment in a public hospital, but unfortunately, because the follow-up was very costly, we could not do anything; this illness accompanied by depression was with her. Many of our friends in Cyprus, under these conditions, after 10 years or 9 years, unfortunately had to leave Cyprus because they received no response." Refugees living in Cyprus are not unfamiliar with the term 'prison.' The illegal entry and residency of refugees are among the main reasons for their detention. However, they may also be imprisoned for other reasons, including what Farhang says is due to mistakes in determining crimes and accusations. Farhang: "I had been married in Cyprus for a while; however, the administrative issues of immigration were so lengthy that it took three years for them to register my documents. After three years, they told me that my marriage was fake, and they imprisoned me. I was in prison for a year, and then they released me, saying that my marriage was confirmed and that I had a Cypriot wife. Then they gave me a residency visa because I had a Cypriot wife. We said, if our marriage was fake, why did you imprison us, and why did you release us afterward? In any case, no one was accountable." However, most refugees complain about the poor conditions of prisoner care and the duration of their detention. Masoud states that although his charge was illegal residency in Cyprus, he was held in prison with individuals charged with crimes and felonies. Masoud: "Because of not having a visa and documents, they sentenced me and I ended up in prison. I was in prison with those who had murder charges. I was then transferred to a prison where we could not see the sky. In the first prison, we could walk in the yard; but in the second place they took us, it was a solitary cell with a closed ceiling. We had no sky to see, only windows that let in light; I was there for six months." In Cyprus, refugees do not receive rights from the country's immigration department. In this country, work permits for refugees are also not provided. If an opportunity arises, the jobs available are hard labor in construction and agriculture with low wages. Omid speaks about the difficult working conditions for refugees in Cyprus and that if they are identified, they may even end up in prison. Omid: "In Cyprus, you have to resort to black market work. Black market work in Cyprus involves very difficult construction jobs. It is a small country, and the conditions are very tough. Many refugees have been arrested in churches or at work and spent nine months in prison just for working to pay rent to a Cypriot landlord. The refugee prison is no different from a regular prison; that is, you are held in the large prison of Cyprus. In the same blocks as traffickers and murderers, there is no difference between them." The island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean shares one thing in common with Nauru in the Pacific Ocean for Iranian refugees; they say that if they were to return to the point before that, they would never choose to go there. In the next part of the documentary Hidden Roads, we will go to Greece, a place where Iranian refugees refer to as the white hell.