Muhammad Assad, Kurdish by nationality, is seeking for a political asylum in Armenia
A Kurd by nationality, 56-year-old Muhammad Aso Assad arrived in Armenia from the Netherlands on the last day of the previous year, on December 31. He was surprised at long weekends, he was here on an important mission, and he is seeking for a political asylum.
Mr. Muhammad tells that he was born in Iraq, but was seeking for a political asylum from the government of Sweden, he lived there for some time, after surrendered to Germany, then went to Russia, studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Kurdistan, and then asked for a political asylum in the Netherlands, but he had received only a humanitarian asylum there.
He says that he has gone to the Netherlands from the Russian Federation, because his period for a stay in Moscow was over and he was warned that there is an economic crisis in the country and the Kurdish Academy may not have sufficient resources to keep him, but if the Netherlands gets in touch with Moscow, it might be possible to shift him there.
“I have had problems in Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands. They did not respect my rights, I turn to them to help me to apply to UNESCO, the International Court of Justice, but I was refused. In the Netherlands, I applied to get a political asylum, they gave me a humanitarian asylum, and when I told them to get in touch with my relatives in Germany, who were witnesses of what they were doing with me there, that I was tortured, it did not stir their interest, I again asked them to opened my study at the St. Petersburg Academy of Kurdistan, they did not do it either,” tells Muhammad Aso Assad. Now, I am seeking for a political asylum in Armenia, he says that still in the nineties he had applied, but received no response, he thinks that the letter did not reach the addressee.
Now, he has serious health problems, he needs to pass a treatment, while in the Netherlands, he asked for help to turn to international organizations for getting treatment, such as Hong Kong or any other place where it is possible to get treatment, but he was rejected, therefore he “had escaped” from the Netherlands. “I need from ten to eleven surgeries. I was beaten by the police of these countries in the police cells, he says, and continues, many members of my family died, I have a few relatives, I have serious health problems, they have damaged my genitals, I am unlikely to be able to make my own family. I was beaten in these countries, they did not wanted me to be active, or go to Russia, but I was continuing. They wanted me to go as their spy, but I did not accept their offer. Why should I? Which should become the reason for me to spy my people? They wanted me to become a toy in their hands, to use me in their own interests. People say that the Kurds massacred Armenians in 1915, well, but they were spies of Outman government, such a thing happened with Kurds, too. Kurds had worked with Saddam Hussein and killed their fellow citizens. I can not be a man like that.” He also says that his torture can also be caused by the fact that his father was a Communist, a political figure. However, he is not involved in politics, and does not represent any political party.
Muhammad Aso Assad has already been at the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, he was given a form to fill in, and have told him that they would respond him the latest in a month.
He has one more wish, he wants to set up a genocide institute in Yerevan, where people would study and review the genocide committed against the Kurds and other nations. “I have sent a letter to the Human Rights International Office, Geneva Ontario Superior Court of Justice saying that Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden are responsible for what has happened to me, and I need to recover, receive treatment, therefore, I need a cash refund, also, each country, Germany, Russia and the Netherlands, have to pay 25 percent of required amount for the establishment of my planned genocide institute, Sweden must pay 15 percent, Russia – 10 percent. It would be a kind of fund where the money will be transferred,” says he.
To our question whether he will feel secure in Armenia, Muhammad Assad said, “I do not ask your government to protect me, I am asking to give me a chance to defend myself.”
Mr. Muhammad Assad says that if he does not receive political asylum here, he will ask for a ticket to Tajikistan to apply with the same matter. However, he hopes that Armenia will not reject his application. “I’m not a criminal, I do not have a criminal past, I do not have any bad desire,” says he.
Hripsime Hovhannisyan
