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Kurdish Refugee Communities University of Warwick institutional repository: http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap/36267 This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. KURDISH REFUGEE COMMUNITIES: THE DIASPORA IN FINLAND AND ENGLAND Osten Ragnar Wahlbeck A thesis submitted to the University of Warwick for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Submitted to the Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations and the Department of Sociology May 1997 CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS v LIST OF TABLES vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii DECLARATION viii SUMMARY ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS x GLOSSARY xi Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION 1 2. THEORY AND LITERATURE REVIEW 9 Refugee Theory 10 Conceptualising Inclusion 13 Multi-Culturalism 18 Exclusion and Racism 23 Ethnicity and Nationalism 29 Globalisation, Transnationalism and De-Territorialisation 34 Diasporas 39 Conclusion 47 3. METHODS 49 Methodology 49 Ethical Questions 53 Methods and Empirical Material 55 Conclusion 60 ii 4. POLITICS AND FORCED MIGRATION IN KURDISTAN 62 Introduction and History 62 Turkey / North-West Kurdistan 69 Iraq / South Kurdistan 76 Iran / East Kurdistan 83 Characteristics of the Forced Migration 88 Conclusion 91 5. THE COUNTRIES OF RECEPTION 92 Finland 92 United Kingdom 107 Conclusion 119 6. THE REFUGEE EXPERIENCE 122 Arrival 122 Anxieties and Psychological Problems 125 Safety and Gratitude 128 Education and Language Skills 130 Practical Problems 132 The Experience of Displacement 138 The Wish to Return 142 Future Plans in the Country of Settlement 144 Ethnic Identification 148 Gender Issues and Family Values 151 Employment 156 Racism and Discrimination 162 Conclusion 167 7. THE KURDISH REFUGEE COMMUNITY 170 Integration into the Society of Reception 171 Integration into another Minority Group 176 Integration within the Kurdish Community 178 Transnational Communities 182 Associations 187 The Role of Social Networks and Associations 199 Diasporic Politics 204 Conclusion 213 8. CONCLUSION 216 APPENDIX 229 NOTES 232 REFERENCES 240 iv ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 1.Map of Kurdistan with estimated distribution of Kurds across Turkey, Iran and Iraq 63 2. Immigration and emigration in Finland between 1945 and 1995 94 3. Foreign citizens and refugees living in Finland, 1980-1996 96 4. Asylum seekers and the refugee quota in Finland, 1979-1996 98 5. Asylum seekers in the United Kingdom, 1982-1995 110 6. Decisions on asylum applications made in the United Kingdom, 1982-1995 111 7. Asylum applications from Turkey, Iran and Iraq made in the United Kingdom, 1985-1995 117 8. Decisions on asylum applications from Turkey, Iran and Iraq in the United Kingdom, 1985-1990 118 9. Decisions on asylum applications from Turkey, Iran and Iraq in the United Kingdom, 1995 118 V TABLES Table Page 1. Semi-structured interviews 56 2. The estimated number of Kurds and citizens from Turkey, Iraq and Iran living in Finland 104 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to all the Kurdish refugees and organisations who helped me and gave me information during this study. I want to thank you for your friendship, hospitality and patience during the fieldwork. Unfortunately, because of the situation in Kurdistan today, you all have to remain anonymous. I am very grateful to my supervisors, Dr. Daniele Joly at the Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations and Professor Robin Cohen at the Department of Sociology, whose expertise in this area of study was invaluable. I am also grateful for the valuable comments on different aspects of this research given by Professor Robert Burgess, Dr. Peter Fairbrother, Dr. Clive Harris, Dr. Mark Johnson, Dr. Ronald Kaye, Dr. Philip Muus, Professor Emeritus John Rex and Mr. Omar Sheilchmous. Inspiration and support was given by both staff and students at the Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations. In Finland Professor Tom Sandlund and his colleagues at the Swedish School of Social Science at the University of Helsinki supported me during a crucial period of this project. The valuable collections in the libraries at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and at the Refugee Studies Programme at Oxford University were of great help during this project. Thanks also to Mr. David McDowall and his publisher I. B. Tauris who kindly gave me permission to reproduce the map of Kurdistan. Support for the completion of this study was provided by the Academy of Finland and the KONE Foundation. I am also grateful for the support given from Agneta och Carl-Erik Olins stipendiefond, Svenska Kulturfonden and the Overseas Research Student Award. vii DECLARATION Some preliminary findings from my fieldwork have briefly been discussed in two articles: Wahlbeck, O. 1996. "Diasporic Relations and Social Exclusion: The Case of Kurdish Refugees in Finland." Siirtolaisuus - Migration 23, no. 4, 7-15; and Wahlbeck, O. 1997. "The Kurdish Diaspora and Refugee Associations in Finland and England." In Exclusion and Inclusion of Refugees in Contemporary Europe, ed. P. Muus, 171-186. Utrecht: ERCOMER. The style of reference used in this thesis is based on the fourteenth edition of Chicago Manual of Style (1993) and its application in the sixth edition of A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses and Dissertations (Turabian 1996). SUMMARY This thesis describes the social organisation of Kurdish refugee communities and is a contribution to the theoretical discussion of the concept of diaspora. Field research methods were used in this comparative sociological study among Kurdish refugees from Turkey, Iraq and Iran, who live in exile in Finland and England. The writer uses rich ethnographic material to describe the social organisation of the Kurdish refugee communities. The thesis introduces new arguments about, and suggests a rethinking of, the process of integration among refugees. In many different ways refugees living in exile have a continuous relation to their societies of origin. The thesis describes various transnational social relations and networks among the Kurdish refugees. It is argued that the Kurds in exile can be regarded as a diaspora. The concept of diaspora highlights the refugees' continuous relation to their countries of origin. However, the transnational social networks and associations can also be important resources for the refugees in their new country of settlement. There is also reason to remember the importance of social structures and exclusionary policies in the country of settlement. The comparison of the two different countries of settlement shows that these structures and policies have a great impact on how the refugees will be integrated into the receiving society. It is argued that a study of refugee communities needs to take into account refugees' relations to both the society of origin and the society of settlement. The writer emphasises that a diaspora can be understood as a transnational social organisation relating both to the country of origin and the country of settlement. Thus, it is argued that the concept of diaspora is a useful analytical tool for an understanding of the transnational social reality in which refugees live. ix ABBREVIATIONS DSS Department of Social Security ELR Exceptional Leave to Remain ERNK Eniya Rizgariya Netewa Kurdistan, National Liberation Front of Kurdistan KCC Kurdish Cultural Centre KDP Kurdish Democratic Party (Iraq) KDP-Iran Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran KWA Kurdistan Workers Association PICK Partiya Karkerén Kurdistan, Kurdistan Workers Party PUK Patriotic Union of Kurdistan UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees x GLOSSARY Newroz: Kurdish New Year (21 March). Peshmerga: Kurdish guerrilla soldier. The term is used mainly in southern Kurdistan (i.e. Iraq and Iran). xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION According to the United Nations (UNHCR 1997), there were fourteen million refugees world-wide in 1995. In addition, a further thirty million persons were displaced within the borders of their own countries. Most refugees stay in neighbouring counties, but a small number is forced to seek safety far away from their countries of origin. This thesis is about Kurdish refugees from Turkey, Iraq and Iran. Since the 1980s increasing numbers of Kurds have been forced to flee the various conflicts in Kurdistan. Today, some of these refugees are present in European countries. Contemporary changes in population movements mean that countries which previously were unaffected by immigration are receiving increased numbers of refugees and migrants. These global changes are also altering migration flows to countries with a long history of immigration (Castles and Miller 1993). Finland, which traditionally has been a country of emigration, turned into a country of immigration during the 1980s. Britain, which for a long period of time experienced immigration and emigration within the British Commonwealth, has received increased numbers of refugees in recent years from countries with which Britain has very few historical ties. These new population movements and the consequent establishment of new refugee communities are relatively little studied phenomena. This thesis concerns itself with newly arrived Kurdish refugees and their communities in Finland and Britain. The two countries of settlement are in significant respects different and this study aims, from a sociological and comparative point of view, to analyse the process of the refugees' "integration" into these two different societies. The refugees' relation to the countries of origin from which they were forced to flee is 1 2 also of interest here. Hence, this thesis describes the social organisation of the Kurdish refugee communities and how this is influenced by the refugees' relation to the country of origin on the one hand and to the country of settlement on the other. By doing this, this thesis develops an analytical framework which also has a wider theoretical significance within the area of international migration and ethnic relations.
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