Leyla and Meryem Lacin have been fighting since 30 Years for a right to stay in Germany. Since October last year they have been part of a Initiative from friends and work colleagues supported. In April, colleagues from Leyla started a petition, the 4300 People have signed. Further 200 People demonstrated together with the initiative for the same demand at the beginning of April in front of the Kassel town hall. However, the situation has not improved since then, but rather deteriorated: Recently a file inspection revealed, that the regional council of Kassel is preparing their deportation to Turkey.
That's why we have with Leyla Lacin and the Initiative for Leyla and Meryem talked about the current situation.
“Leyla and Meryem stay” - this demand has been made publicly by the Kassel Initiative since last October. Originally, this demand related to the open question of jurisdiction between the authorities in Northern Hesse and Northern Bavaria. Although both women have been almost 10 Years living in Kassel, the city of Kassel still rejects responsibility for the case and refers in this matter to the authorities in Bayreuth or. Bamberg. For Leyla and Meryem Lacin, the question of responsibility depends on the long-term security of their lives in Kassel: As long as the question remains unanswered, Every assumption of the medical treatment costs for the seriously ill Meryem has to be laboriously fought for in court. In addition, both women still have no identity papers.
All this time and until today it is still not clear, whether Leyla and Meryem Lacin can stay in Kassel, although they have built a life here, Found work and made friends. That this situation is enormously stressful psychologically, Leyla Lacin and the initiative emphasize again and again: “It is an untenable and legally unacceptable situation, in which my mother and I have been left for many years by the indifference of the authorities,“Said Leyla Lacin in an interview.
Customs force termination
Until the end of April 2021 Leyla paid for the maintenance of herself and her mother through her work as an assistant in an outpatient nursing service from Kassel. This work is important to her, because she enjoys contact with people and because she cares about working with disadvantaged people, says Leyla. At the beginning of the year, however, following information from the Kassel authorities, the Gießen customs office criminalized Leyla Lacin's employer and put him under pressure, to terminate her at the end of April due to a lack of a work permit.
A recently submitted application for a work permit to the authorities in Northern Bavaria was nevertheless rejected. He could have improved Leyla's situation considerably. “We find it absurd, that despite a nursing emergency, a carer who is valued by her employer and colleagues must be dismissed, because the authorities refuse to give her a work permit. Leyla's customers emphasized to us, how much they appreciate Leyla's work. Nevertheless, she is not allowed to continue doing this job. ", says Lisa Brandt from the initiative.
The Kassel regional council is planning a deportation
Im Mai 2021 then became clear, that the situation is worse, than previously assumed. Because a file inspection of the lawyer revealed, that the Central Immigration Office in Kassel, which is subordinate to the regional council of Kassel, has meanwhile organized passport replacement papers for both women. The missing Turkish passports have always been a reason, that no deportation could be carried out. While the Turkish consulate approved the passport replacement papers for Meryem in February 2021 has given, Leyla has had such a commitment since July 2020.
“Ever since I can think back, I and my family, including through the actions of the German authorities, have experienced excessive unequal treatment before German law.”
Leyla Lacin
The demand of the initiative, that Leyla and Meryem should stay, therefore no longer refers only to an imminent deportation to northern Bavaria. Now that's what it's about, to prevent the threatened deportation to Turkey. Such a deportation would be a catastrophe in many ways, as Lisa Brandt from the initiative emphasizes. The two women are torn from their lives here in Germany, that they have painstakingly built up over the years.
Meryem Lacin is seriously ill. Evidence of expert opinion, that both women suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder due to their flight experience and previous experiences with the authorities in Germany. For these reasons alone, deportation poses a threat to the lives of the two women. Furthermore, as Kurds, they are threatened with political persecution and repression in Turkey.
“Ever since I can think back, I and my family, including through the actions of the German authorities, have experienced immeasurable unequal treatment before German law. Disadvantageous “asylum laws” have sometimes brought us into this situation. I will not stop, my most basic human rights and those of my fellow human beings, to demand. Human is human! Be it in Germany, Kurdistan or anywhere else in the world!,“Leyla Lacin concludes our conversation.
Next up is the initiative at the Demonstration “Deportations are not an administrative act!” am 11.06. one 12 Watch. The newly founded Hessian alliance against deportations has called for the demo. This is where the initiative wants their demand for residence- and carry work permits for Leyla and Meryem on the street. But she also wants to make it clear, that the case of Leyla and Meryem is not an isolated case and must be seen in connection with the actions of the authorities towards countless other refugees.