This blog tells a story that is a change of pace for what we normally write about. Apparently a Heavy Metal rock band has escaped persecution in Iraq and sought refuge in Turkey, but Turkey, so the post says, does not take refugees from anywhere but the West! Can you believe it! A Muslim country does not take its fellow Muslims in from Asia, Africa and the Middle East! What are they afraid of? Do they know something we don’t know?
Is this policy why we took the Meshketian Turks from Russia and Turkey didn’t take them?
In November 2007, the Iraqi metal band Acrassicauda was able to get to Turkey through the help of friends who donated money for them to leave Syria. Their visas in Syria were expiring and the government of Syria was threatening to force all Iraqis to return to Iraq.
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Now they are in Turkey and their money and options are running out. Life in Turkey is very expensive and very difficult for people waiting to find out if they can officially be resettled by the UNHCR in another country (Turkey does not accept refugees from anywhere other than the West). As it stands now, they may have to return to Baghdad, simply because they can’t afford to stay in Turkey much longer. It’s impossible to stress just how dangerous this will be for them.
You will find a link to the group’s music here.