Turkey: Goodbye Asia and welcome Europe Having conquered the mountains, a truck driven by another Kurdish smuggler picked them up and took them to Gohar. As they were to bid farewell to Kurdistan in Gohar, fake Iranian passports were handed over to them too. The following day they were meant to be driven to Ankara by bus, but to their horror, they were instructed to climb a mountain by foot. Mistakenly, Abdulmajid glided over the snow shortly after having fallen unconscious. “As I woke up, I found myself already buried under two feet of snow. My only concern was how long I am going to take this before kissing my life goodbye. I could not move an inch. Luckily, in about two hours someone anonymous grasped my fingers out of the snow and took me to warm Ankara”. Around two months were spent in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir. Bound to Greece, they were introduced to tiny moth-eaten boat, thirty two persons were to fit for two and a half hours.
“Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.” ― Franklin D. Roosevelt
Greece: “We made it to Europe… alive!”
Leaving Fingerprints on Rocky Route
By: Toqa Hilal
By Toqa Hilal
By: Toqa Hilal
A story of an Afghan illegal immigrant walking through a thorny path. For the sake of getting a proper education, he constantly put his life at stake. Be it by car or bus or boat or ship or even, on occasion, by foot, Abdulmajid from Afghanistan successfully arrived in Greece. His dream of a better future cost him seven thousand Dollars, around seven months and almost his life. Afghanistan: “I love you! Goodbye!”
Abdulmajid
Having had a tough childhood, which included witnessing his uncle getting shot in front of his eyes and losing his first love in a blink of an eye, Abdulmajid made up his mind to leave his hometown, Logar. Nevertheless, those were not his only motives. His role model, his mother, often emphasized the significance of education. As a result, he shaped his life-goal at an early age: to voice his well-educated mind and enlighten the Afghan society. However, he could not help being an underdog of the continuous alteration in the educational system. “School subjects differ depending on the ruler at that time: Russians, Americans or Taliban. For instance, at the time of the Americans learning English was a must, while Taliban prioritized Arabic instead. All this anarchy confused us as kids and hindered any progressive acquisition of any language”, Abdulmajid explains. Pakistan: off to a better future! Due to the everlasting struggle between Taliban, the regional rulers, and the government, both sides threaten people when working for the opposite party. This implies, having no prospects in Afghanistan, through the lens of Abdulmajid. Therefore, in July 2007, he accompanied his grandmother to her home in Peshawar, phoned his mother and confissed his intention to immigrate illegaly to Europe. Her response is still
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clear as crystal in his mind: “You have always had the words to change the nation, but you bit your tongue and spent your life stuck in silence. This is your chance to grow strong. You have a sharp brain, so do not let your voice be tamed and leave your fingerprints wherever you go, son!”. With the financial support of his uncle, Abdulmajid conversed with a smuggler to sneak out Pakistan. “It’s not that I wanted to slip away illegally, but in Taliban -governed territories, only some Arab countries have embassies. Even if I had the money, where would I have applied for a visa? I had no other option”, he stresses. It was midnight and around 30 people got into a shabby bus heading to Taftan over Quetta. Taftan is Pakistan‘s only legal official border crossing into Iran. Yet, it’s also famed by locals as the “road to London”, due to its famous smuggling route.
Mytilene, a town in Greece, was the terminal of their paid, pre-arranged journey. At once, the Greek police landing them in a detention camp. There, Abdulmajid was fingerprinted and registered in the EU border database. Before long, he was released under the condition of returning home. But like so many others, he didn‘t return home. Instead, he avoided all checkpoints and sneaked on a ferry to Athens. And yet, his ambition knows no boundaries. His dream was Germany. How? He answers: “I blinked and that smuggler appeared out of nowhere!. He promised me that this time would be different. This time it will work, he said. Having nothing to lose, I gave it a go”. Germany: a dream comes true Abdulmajid had neither a German visa nor a German passport, even his fake Iranian one was no longer in his possession. Thus, the smuggler provided him with a fake German passport. Thanks to that, he made it to Dusseldorf in 2009. But it did not take the police time to suspect
Iran: run, gun and “fun” At around 2 a.m., Abdulmajid and 20 other persons jumped onto the back of a pick-up truck and covered themselves with a dark-colored blanket. “The Balochi driver undoubtedly broke all speed records, despite the fact that we had no safety belts of any kind. I almost fell off! Luckily, however, I hanged on by a rusty nail in the truck. My hand bled and my crimson fingerprints were all over the truck. To that nail I owe my life!”. As they approached the Pakistani-Iranian borders, one of the passengers fainted, which stirred up some mess in the back of the truck. The Iranian border guard investigated and, to our dread, removed the blanket. Within a minute, the illegal passengers split up and fled in different directions, while being hunted by the guards. Abdulmajid was one of the lucky ones who survived and made it to Iran in one piece. In order to enter Turkey illegally, nothing sounds better than the Kurds, a folk that inhabits a region includes adjacent parts of both countries.
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Abdulmajid. Gently, he was asked to accompany them to the station, where they questioned him for two hours. Once this phase was over, he was directly sent free again. Until his situation was cleared up between the Afghani embassy and Germany, he was under “hotel” arrest. Meanwhile, he attended language courses for two weeks. Right after having gotten his residence permit, he joined a German high school. Successfully, he was graduated from school with an average of 3.0. Abdulmajid nowadays is fulfilling his dream of a vocational education in nursing, after having applied for asylum in Germany. Will Abdulmajid’s adventure end in Dusseldorf? Abdulmajid puts the answer to that question in one statement:” No worries! Where there is a will,
Eye on Afghanistan: Turmoil of Endless Wars Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Capital: Kabul Major languages: Dari, Pashto History: • 1929: Zahir Shah crowned himself as a king of the monarchy of Afghanistan, which lasted four decades. • 1953: General Mohammed Daud turns to Soviet Union for economic and military assistance. • 1973: Daud seized power in a coup declaring Afghanistan as a republic, backed up by the Soviet Union. • 1978: Daud was overthrown and killed in another coup, followed by armed revolt. • 1979: the Soviet Red Army invaded Afghanistan. Simultaneously, the antiregime forces along with Mujahideen groups intensified their resistance backed up by the US, Pakistan, China, Iran and Saudi Arabia. • 1988: Afghanistan, USSR, the US and Pakistan signed peace accords, which concluded in Soviet Union pulling out all of its troops in 1989. • 1996: Taliban seized control of Kabul and were recognized shortly afterwards as legitimate rulers by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. • 1998: After accusing Bin Laden for bombing US embassies in Africa, the US launched missile strikes at suspected bases of his militant. • October 2001: The US led the invasion supported later on by the Anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, after the attacks of September 11. • 2002: Hamid Karzai elected as interim head of the state. However, the Nato took control of security in Kabul, and then across the whole of Afghanistan by 2006. • 2009: The US during the presidential periods of Bush and Obama kept sending troops, bringing the total to 100,000. The latter declared, nevertheless, that the US will begin withdrawing its forces by 2011. • 2010: The Nato expressed its plan to hand control of security to Afghan forces by the end of 2014. • 2012: Taliban agreed to open an office in Dubai as a move towards peace
By: Toqa Hilal