Social Cohesion and International Migration in a ...



PRELIMINARY REPORT

Social Cohesion and International Migration in a Globalizing Era

Transnational Solidarities and Newcomer Incorporation in Canada

The Case of the Kurdish Community

by

Khashayar Hooshiyar

Centre for Refugee Studies

York University

Sep-03

The purpose of this report is to provide preliminary information on our Kurdish Project aimed at exploring and contributing to knowledge and policies concerning Kurdish newcomer (refugees & immigrants) incorporation and social cohesion in Canada. This project is part of a major undertaking entitled: “Social Cohesion and International Migration in a Globalization Era (SCIMGE) ”. The general objective of SCIMGE is to provide, from a transnational perspective, a comparative analysis of the mode of incorporation of newcomer groups whose displacement was prompted by political upheaval and violence.

In what follows: (1) our research plans and objectives will be introduced; (2) some background information about the Kurds will be given; (3) the concept of Kurdish Diaspora will be briefly discussed, and (4) the Kurdish community in Canada and challenges to integration will be examined.

I. Introduction: Program of Research

Basic Assumptions

Our research is based on the following assumptions:

• The state of “permanent temporariness” (Bailey et al. 2002) due to such reasons as “the trauma and dislocation associated with the departure” and the intention to return home as soon as the political situation gets better may affect integration.

• Certain social, political, and economic barriers make it difficult to integrate. Some of the important ones are: institutional racism, discriminatory policies and practices, language barriers, employment barriers, cultural differences, etc.

• Differences in availability of resources to different ethnic groups might hinder the process of integration. Governmental policies and institutions might have created variations in who receives social and economic assistance; hence, difficulties in integration for certain nationalities.

• Mass communication media play an important role (both positive and negative) in integration.

Analytical Framework

To avoid any forms of reductionism and transcend eclectic and multi-factorial approaches that impede a comprehensive understanding of the problem, we will analyze the relationship between the following three intertwined factors/processes: (1) transnational practices; (2) domestic structural barriers to integration; and (3) modes of integration. The focus will be upon, on the one hand, the exploration of the conditions under which these factors/processes interact and, on the other, the nature of these interactions and how they affect outcomes.

Methodology

1. Required data

A. Kurdish population in Canada, where they come from, and where/how they are settled

B. Push and pull factors

C. Kurds’ attitudes and thoughts concerning integration

D. Kurdish organizations (political, social, and cultural) in Canada

E. Transnational links and practices (at organizational, family, and individual levels).

F. Modes of integration experienced by most Kurds

G. Personal and structural obstacles to the integration of Kurds in Canada

H. Information on patterns of integration and how they are shaped by different factors, policies, forces, and processes (e.g., immigration policy and refugee determination, multiculturalism, settlement services, etc.)

I. Information on the role of mass communication systems such as Med TV, Kurdish newspapers and magazines, etc.

2. Research Method

A. Interviews: interviews will be conducted with members of the Kurdish community and their political and social leaders, Kurdish academics, editors and publishers of Kurdish newspapers and magazines, managers and operators of Kurdish TV and radio stations, Canadian government officials, Kurdish students, and other Kurdish refugees and immigrants (particularly the newcomers to Canada) to elicit answers pertinent to our research hypotheses.

• Interview questions will be developed based on the objectives of the project and the required data.

B. Focus groups: in-depth qualitative interviews in which several people are interviewed together in a flexible and exploratory group discussion format will be conducted. In these focus groups the emphasis will be on interactions between participants rather than between the researcher and participants to collect information. The purpose of these focus groups is to explore people's ideas in a public setting so that we can observe how they react to each other's ideas, when they challenge each others views, and how their opinions are formed on different issues.

• The character and the compositions of these focus groups will be determined at a later time.

. The Kurds: Background Information

Political Geography

AREAS OF CONCENTRATION

The vast Kurdish homeland of about 230,000 square miles is about the areas of Germany and Britain combined, or roughly equal to France and Texas. While it consists basically of mountainous areas and, its arable land is more than most Mid-East countries.

The Kurds are the largest ethnicity in the world without a state of its own. Promised – but never granted – their own country after WWI, Kurds now live in parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

History and Politics

The history of the Kurds is the history of survival and continuous struggle for basic human rights, autonomy, and independence. The Kurds are perhaps the most oppressed minority in the world.

The Kurds consider themselves as the native inhabitants of their land- what is known to them as the “greater Kurdistan”. Hence, they do not see “beginnings” for their history. Kurds and their history are the end products of thousands of years of continuous evolution. With the birth of the notion of nation-state in Europe and the consequent geo-political transformation in the Middle East, particularly at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, Kurdish history and politics entered into a new phase. For the first time, the Kurds saw the possibility of establishing a Kurdish state.

According to the treaty of Sèvres, signed in August 1920 by the delegates of the allied forces and the Sultan of Ottoman Empire, the Kurdish people of the Ottoman Empire were to be permitted to establish an autonomous state of Kurdistan on equal basis with the other people of that empire. However, successive regimes, hostile to the idea of self-determination for the Kurds never permitted the implementation of the terms of the treaty.

In 1946, after World War II, the establishment of the Kurdistan Republic of Mahabad in the heart of the “Greater Kurdistan” and outside the zones of allied occupation, revitalized the hope for Kurdish independence. However, the Kurdish Republic of Mahabad in Iranian Kurdistan lasted for only one year. The Shah’s forces, supported by the Anglo-American troops who saw this republic as an impediment to their interests in the region, dismantled the Kurdish state and brutally repressed the Kurdish forces.

Since then Kurdish areas have been administered by four sovereign states; namely, Turkey, Iran, Syria, Iraq. Deprived from their right to self-determination, the Kurds have been under continuous repression by these countries.

People and Society

Strong tribal organization has been the most single important features of Kurdish society since the end of medieval times. In the absence of a national Kurdish state and government, on the one hand, and Kurds’ unwillingness to become integrated in the dominant socio-political and cultural structures, on the other, tribes serve as the highest native source of authority.

Today Kurds are the largest ethnic group in the Middle East. Their largest concentrations are now respectively in Turkey (52% of all Kurds), Iran (25%), Iraq (16%), Syria (5%) and the CIS (1.5%).

Population Estimates (1997)

|Country |Population |Kurds |Ratio to overall population |

|Iran |65,000,000 |6,500,000 |10% |

|Iraq |19,300,000 |4,400,000 |23% |

|Syria |13,400,000 |1,100,000 |8% |

|Turkey |65,000,000 |14,300,000 |22% |

|CIS | |500,000 | |

|Elsewhere | |1,700,000 | |

|Total | |28,500,000 | |

Kurdish Diaspora

The presence of the Kurds outside the geographical area of the Middle East is not a new phenomenon. During the last 500 years, the Kurds in general, and the Kurdish tribes in particular, have often been used by the old Persian and Ottoman Empires, as well as modern regional political entities such as Iran, Turkey, Iraq and Syria, as an effective tool in order to exert pressure on each-other. The main reason for this can be understood in conjunction with the political, economic and territorial differences between these states. To this effect, the Kurds have regularly been subjected to discrimination, persecution, maltreatment, and above all genocide and massive forced deportation or migration. As a result of different deportation campaigns against the Kurds as well as Kurdish migration due to political/cultural persecution,, we can today find many regions, countries and cities that give evidence of significant Kurdish immigrant communities. It is difficult to evaluate the real number of Kurds in Europe or in the USA or Canada. However, the number of Kurds in Europe, is evaluated to around 850,000 at the end of 1990s. The largest group of Kurds resides in Germany. It is also estimated that up to 50,000 Kurds live North America.

Kurdish Diaspora: CANADA

• The Kurds from major parts of Greater Kurdistan have resettled in different parts of Canada. The majority of them, however, live in Ontario.

• Their major migratory movements into Canada goes back to 1975 (the Iraqi Kurds), 1979 (the Iranian Kurds), and 1984 (the Turkish Kurds)

• Kurdish ethnic community in Canada has been shaped by a complex process. Some of the factors included in this process are the history of Kurds in Kurdistan, subsequent immigration experiences in Canada, transnational linkages, and Kurdish politics and demographics. While culture plays a central of role in defining who the Kurds are, Identity among many Kurds is highly politicized.

In Canada, 4,090 people identified their mother tongues as Kurdish in the 1996 census. But the members of the Vancouver-area Kurdish community say there are 15, 000 living in Canada.

Kurdish Population in Canada, 1996

Kurdish Population-Major Provinces

|Canada |Ontario |Quebec |B.C. |Alberta |Others |

|4205 |2340 |555 |595 |555 |160 |

Kurdish Population-Major Cities

|Toronto |Ottawa |Montreal |Vancouver |

|830 |275 |470 |575 |

Kurdish Community in Canada and Challenges to Integration

The Kurdish community in Canada is a very vibrant and political community. A majority of the Kurds have left their homeland due to cultural and political oppression and persecution; hence, they are mainly political refugees. Over the years, they have been working very hard to become an integral part of the larger Canadian community while trying to preserve their cultural identity. Due to political restrictions imposed on them by respective countries of the Middle East, the Kurds, unlike other ethnic and national minorities, have not been to establish any successful permanent pattern of chain migration. Their inability to bring their families to Canada and their utmost concern about the political situation in their homeland have had particular impact on their integration into Canadian society—i.e., they do not completely feel at home in Canada. This combined with a variety of personal and structural obstacles have made their integration very difficult.

As far as structural barriers are concerned, the following are prominent:

• Institutional and personal discrimination

• Cultural (including language and religion) barriers

• Economic obstacles

• Social and political barriers

The specificities and different dimensions of these structural barriers will be investigated in our interviews, focus groups, etc.

Transnational links and practices could play both positive and negative roles in integration. Non-political transnational links such as cultural, social, and economic contacts usually play a positive role in Kurdish incorporation into Canadian society. Economic contacts with families, for example, in such forms as sending money back home (remittances) would bring a peace of mind for the sender (positive psychological effects) and, at the same time, help that person to become and be a part of the work force; hence, incorporation into the economic life of the host country. Communication links with friends and families in the country of origin through such methods as written correspondence, internet/email, telephone contacts, etc., would also help Kurdish newcomers incorporation into the Canadian society more likely. This is mainly because of the fact that these linkages make them feel not so apart from their loved ones and help them to keep in touch with and vicariously share in everyday life in the homeland.

Political transnational links, however, do not always advance the cause of integration and incorporation. It is highly likely that a person who is affiliated with a home-based political organization is more concerned about the politics of the country of origin than that of the host country. In the case of a state-less ethnic community such as Kurds, this political attachment becomes more significant since the main objective of these political organizations is the realization of an independent Kurdish state. This “negative” aspect becomes more prominent when the host country is not sympathetic to the Kurdish cause and/or has good relationship with the home country within which the Kurdish minority resides.

Political transnational links play a positive role in such circumstances as:

• When Kurdish political groups engage in lobbying the host country’s institutions for support. In fact, transnational politics span from lobbying international organizations to local councils.

• When Kurdish Political organizations try to educate Canadians about the Kurdish cause or specific political issues, as well as start having joint activities with other organizations and groups.

• When Kurdish political organizations try to use the political, legal, cultural resources of the host country.

With respect to transnational links and practices, the Kurds of the “greater Kurdistan” as well as diaspora Kurdish communities in the West have been making an extraordinary leap in the wired world. In an article published on August 15, 2001 on BBC News website, BBC’s Hiwa Osman found the Kurds of northern Iraq surprisingly connected to the wired world:

I the vibrant city of Sulaymaniyah, I was able to easily check my e-mails and surf the web on a state-of-the-art computer, all for the moderately inexpensive rate of $1.50 per hour. For $50 a month, I can have unlimited access to the internet at home, once we get a digital line, said a student in the center, who was holding an audio and video chat with his sister in Canada….[the Kurds] have turned to satellite communications and the internet to replace the local network. Sulaymaniyah, a city of 500,000 people, has more than 20 satellite-linked centers for telephone, fax and internet. …. Exchanging email addresses is the latest fashion in cities where it is not unusual to see a herd of sheep scrambling across a major roadway. … Sulaymaniyah also has a mobile telephone network that covers the city and its suburbs. … International phone calls are easily made from mobile phones, using the UK dialing code and with a flat rate of 30 cents per minutes. The call-card-operated phones will soon have text messaging services as well, …..

Satellite TV and the internet are becoming a basic necessity in every Kurdish house. The long-isolated Kurds now keep up-to-date with world news as well as local news. Kurds in Europe and at home stay in touch with Kurdish events through variety of Kurdish television broadcast from Arbil and Sulaymaniyah to Europe and North America. For many Kurds, satellite and the internet are the new weapons in their struggle. For the Kurds at home and the Kurdish community abroad, globalization has been a positive thing. As one Kurdish refugee who has just arrived from Iraq puts it: “Our enemies will not be able to oppress us as before. We just have to strike a balance between being part of the modern world and keeping our identity.”

For years the Kurds have been trying to survive as a nation by keeping their identity and practicing their culture whenever and wherever possible. To this end, they have established a very effective and organized global network that stretches from the Middle East to Europe and Canada. They have also achieved a visible and active presence in the cyber world. For example, Dr. Lebwar Fatah, Director of , has even created a Kurdish state in cyberspace to keep the dream alive, overcome the political and geographical divisions amongst Kurds, and educate the world about the Kurdish cause and the plight of the Kurds. In an interview with the Italian online cultural magazine, he identifies the objective of his virtual Kurdish state as follows:

• To present Kurds, their issues and their art and culture, showing the real beauty of the Kurdish language, culture and art;

• To help Kurds organize and express themselves culturally and politically;

• To help Kurds express themselves freely in the cyberspace;

• To promote debate about Kurds and create a virtual Kurdistan;

• To promote the worldwide acceptance of a Kurdish state.

Focusing on the objective of promoting the acceptance of a Kurdish state, Dr. Fatah argues:

Kurdish history has been decided by the West and written by oppressive regimes. Kurdistan has been divided since WWI. This has created a psychological barrier, not only in the minds of non-Kurds, but also Kurds themselves. Kurds need to be conceived that they need a state in order to remain a living nation…. Hopefully the internet is a starting point for that process.

Dr. Fathah further explains that would have not been possible without the establishment of a diaspora Kurdish community. Dr. Fatah’s Cyber-based Kurdish state, “a village one click away from anywhere in the world”, has now a daily newspaper, constitution, rules, history, language, dialects, art, etc.

Although is a very popular and frequently visited website, it is not the only one. According to some estimates, there are more than one thousand Kurdish sites on the internet. These websites vary from those belonging to specific political organizations to Kurdish academic sites. Kurdish presence in the cyberspace, however, is only a segment of a wide and complex global network that keeps Kurds, at home and/or in diaspora, culturally, socially, and politically connected and active (see Appendix I).

Prior to and during the American and British invasion of Iraq, these global networks and transnational links and practices became very active in Canada and elsewhere. In Ontario, where a large community of Kurdish refugees and immigrants resides, several political and cultural activities from holding community meetings to staging demonstrations took place on an almost regular basis by the Kurds who were worried about the homeland situation. Uncertainties surrounding the future of Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan brought long time political adversaries together and forced them to find ways to connect their transnational ties with Kurdistan with their networks in Canada. For the first time we saw disparate political organizations from different Kurdish areas of the Middle East coming together. This rapprochement demonstrates how in times of crisis a divided nation overcomes geographical, political, and ideological barriers to advance a common cause. These activities in turn activated a wide variety of local transnational links from acquiring a permit for a demonstration to getting in touch with federal and local members of parliament. Furthermore, centralization of communication and continuing dialogue among members of various factions and national backgrounds in Canada strengthened existing linkages.

In the following month, we shall attempt to explore and analyze different aspects of our project, as discussed, through in-depth interviews, data collection, and other avenues.

May, 2003

Appendix I

|Kurdish Organizations: Political Groups |

|Country |Name |Web Site |Foreign Branches |

|Iraq |Patriotic Union of Kurdistan | |Germany, Canada, UK, |

|  |(PUK) |  |Australia |

|Iraq |Kurdistan Democratic Party - |kdp.pp.se |Sweden, Germany, |

|  |Iraq |  |Canada |

|Turkey |Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK)| |Germany, Sweden, UK, |

|  | |  |Canada |

|  |PARTÎYA DEMOKRAT A KURDISTAN |pdk- |  |

|  |- BAKUR (PDK-Bakur) |  | |

|Iran |Komala | |Canada, Holland |

|  | | | |

|Turkey |Socialist Party of Kurdistan | |  |

|  |(SPK) | | |

|Lebanon |Kurdistan Democratic Party | |  |

|  |(PDK) | | |

|  |Kurdistan Toilers Party |zahmatkishan.dk |  |

|  | | | |

|Iran |Democratic Party of Iranian | |Sweden; Canada |

|  |Kurdistan (DPIK) | | |

|Iraq |Rizgary Party of Kurdistan |r- |  |

|  | | | |

|  |Kurdistan Regional Government| |UK |

|  |(KRG UK) | | |

|  |Yakgirto Islami | |  |

|  |Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU)| | |

|  |KSDP- Kurdistan Socialist | |  |

|  |Democraty Party | | |

|Syria |Partiy a Demuqrat a Kurdî li | |  |

|  |Surîye (ALPARTY) | | |

|Kurdish Organizations: Political Groups |

|Country |Name |Web Site |Foreign Branches |

|Norway |Kurdish political center in |pashkeli |  |

|  |Norway | | |

|  |Partiya Îslamiya |pikawelat.de |  |

|  |Kurdistan-PÎK   | | |

|Syria |Kurdish Yekiti Party | |  |

|  | | | |

|  |Eniya Rizgariya Netewa | |  |

|  |Kurdistan (ERNK) | | |

|Turkey |HADEP |  |  |

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|Kurdish Organizations: communities and groups |

|Country |Name |Web Site |Functions |

|Italy |Azadi Association | |Human Rights |

|  | | | |

|  |Kurdistan National Congress | |  |

|  |(KNC) | | |

|USA |American Society for Kurds | |Social Services |

|  |(ASK) | | |

|Sweden |WADI | |Political, Legal, |

|  | | |Human Rights |

|USA |Kurdish Human Rights Watch | |Human Rights |

|  | | | |

|UK |Kurdish Human Rights Project | |Human Rights |

|  | | | |

|Austria |Kurdish Center in Vienna | |  |

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|Sweden, London, |Islamic Kurdish League | |  |

|Doha | | | |

|USA |Kurdish Community Centro of | |Community Work |

|  |California | | |

|England |Kurdish Cultural Center in | |Cultural |

|  |London (KCC) | | |

|Holland |Kurdistan Informatie Centrum | |  |

|  |Nederland | | |

|  |International Friends of | |  |

|  |Kurdistan | | |

|  |Mahabad Association in | |  |

|  |Malaysia | | |

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|Kurdish Organizations : communities and groups - Canada |

|Country |Name |Web Site/Address |Activities |

|  |Kurdistan Committee of Canada|Kurdistan Committee of Canada |  |

|OTTAWA |Tel: (613) 733-9634 |2487 Kaladar Ave. Suite 203 | |

| |Fax: (613) 733-0090 |Ottawa, Ontario, K1V 8B9 | |

| |E-mail: kcc@ |  | |

|Edmonton |Kurdish-Canadian Community of| |  |

|  |Edmonton | | |

|Vancouver |Kurdish Canadian Information |4904 Joyce Street |  |

|  |Center |Vancouver, British Columbia | |

| |(1-604) 438-4020 |V5R 4G6 | |

| |Or Tel/Fax: (1-604) 438-4046 | | |

|Toronto |Toronto Kurdish Community |1344 St. Clair Avenue W. |  |

|  |Information Center |416-654-2049 | |

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