Italy’s Openness To Kurdish Refugees Worries Neighbors Second Packed Ship In A Week Is Intercepted Off Italian Coast
As a second ship packed with hundreds of Kurdish refugees in less than a week was intercepted off the Italian coast Thursday, Italy found itself caught in a cross-fire between its northern European neighbors and Turkey over its open-door policies toward such immigrants.
The Panamanian-flag vessel, with more than 700 Kurds aboard, was adrift and without a captain when it was intercepted, and it was escorted by Italian naval vessels to Otranto on the heel of Italy’s boot, according to Italian news reports. On Saturday, 825 refugees, mostly Kurds from Turkey and Iraq, were evacuated from a ship that ran aground on the southern Italian coast.
The latest wave of Kurdish refugees, most of whom come from Turkey, has stoked fears in northern Europe, particularly Germany and Austria, that Italy’s open attitude and porous borders will enable thousands of immigrants to slip illegally into their countries.
Italy’s long coastline is virtually indefensible against refugees. In numerous waves in 1997, 16,000 Albanians fled political turmoil at home and escaped to southern Italian ports. Now, the arrival of the Kurds may prove to be a more intractable problem than that of the Albanians, most of whom were ultimately repatriated under an agreement with the Albanian government.
Bonn fears that many of the Kurds will exploit a 15-day period that Italy allows to determine their status and will leave for Germany, which offers better job opportunities and an established Kurdish community.
The Italian government, under heavy pressure from Roman Catholic charitable organizations and human rights campaigners, has thrown open its arms to the Kurds. In an annual New Year’s Eve address in Rome, President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro affirmed that Italy’s “doors must be wide open” to refugees who flee “because they are living with persecution.”
But he urged the European Union to seek dialogue with governments like that of Turkey, whose shaky human rights record is often seen as a major cause of the refugee problem.
After a government meeting this week, Interior Minister Giorgio Napolitano said there was “no doubt” about the persecution of the Kurds “in Iraq and certain regions of Turkey.” Italy, he said, would take a “positive attitude” toward Kurdish requests for political asylum.
Turkey, which is smarting from a recent rebuff of efforts to join the European Union, is particularly sensitive to accusations that it is trodding on the rights of its Kurdish minority. It views its military actions to put down Kurdish separatism in the southeast of the country as a purely domestic matter and fears that any international discussion could lead to outside intervention.
Meanwhile, the Italian authorities, as parties to the so-called Schengen group of European countries that have begun phasing out border controls, are being scrutinized by their neighbors to the north, most notably Germany and Austria. Italian officials confirmed Thursday that the Austrian authorities had reinstated controls at crossing points on their southern frontier with Italy.
The Suddeutsche Zeitung said in an editorial on Wednesday that the Italian actions “confirmed the fears of Germany” about the inclusion of southern European countries in the Schengen arrangements. The newspaper recalled that as recently as November, senior police officials from Bonn had visited Rome to insist on tougher measures against illegal immigration and had been given assurances of strictness by Italy.