Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Baszn Özeti
miles east of Tokyo and 3,790 miles west of Hawaii.
The island, one-third of which is covered by U.s. bases,
was a major staging area for the evacuation of
Americans after the Vietnam War.
Rear Adm. Martin Janczak, head of the U.s. naval
forces in the Marianas Islands, said that before being
flown here, all Kurds were checked by FBI and
immigration officials at the initial evacuation camp in
Turkey to make sure their need for asylum was valid.
More than half have already been sent on to the
United States, many to sponsors awaiting them in
Tennessee or Virginia, where there are established
Kurd communities. Janczak expects the last batch to be
gone in a few weeks.
Many of the Kurds are in Guam with their families,
and many are young married couples. Since the first
wave arrived in September, 58 babies have been born
in the compound. All babies born on Guam are
automatically U.S. citizens.
Ron Munia, field director with the Department of
Health and Human Services' Office of Refugee
Resettlement, said the outlook for the Kurds in
America is good because they have a high education
level and include a large number of technicians and
other specialists with marketable skills.
He added that it is America's obligation to give them
the chance.
"If we go in and do our Desert Storm and get their
assistance but don't help them when the Iraqi army
comes, the message will be clear," Munia said.
"Getting people to help us will be extremely difficult in
the future."
Some older men, however, expressed fear of what
might lie ahead in America -- a country whose culture
and mores they often find confusing and frightening.
"We must just try to maintain our ways," said an old
man who asked that his name not be used for feàr of
reprisals against his family in Iraq. "There are things
about America we might not like, but we must get used
to it."
For the younger Kurds, such concerns are secondary.
"I have never felt so safe before," said Bayan Surdashy,
a 21-year-old interpreter who is heading for
Alexandria, Va. "I hear it is very beautiful there."
@ Copyright 1997 The Associated Press
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