Semriach rallies to stop Kurdish family’s deportation

A deportation to Turkey that threatened a Kurdish family in Semriach was halted temporarily on Monday, prompting the Austrian municipality to appeal to President Alexander Van der Bellen, ORF reported.

The Yabas family has since returned home and is surrounded by friends and supporters. Fourteen-year-old Arges Yabas said he had many friends in Semriach and felt safe there. His father, Murat Yabas, said: “Semriach is my home.”

Mayor Gottfried Rieger said the family represented the kind of integration the municipality wanted to achieve. “It would be extremely difficult, personally painful and sad for all of us if this did not work out,” he said.

The family fled less than three years ago from the Turkish border region with Iran and Iraq, saying they had faced persecution by Turkish authorities. Maryette Yabas said that her brothers had been killed and that the family had not known where to go, only that they wanted a safe place. “We are grateful to everyone in Semriach,” she said.

The family has collected more than 100 letters of support from people of all ages. Both parents have jobs and do not receive social benefits, while their son plays in the GAK youth football team. Murat Yabas has worked for two and a half years at a local bakery.

Baker Franz Pfleger said he wanted to give Yabas the opportunity to continue working there and hoped the family could remain in Semriach. Supporter Angela Puregger called for authorities to consider how well people are integrated and how needed they are.

The municipality has sent an appeal to the interior minister and asked the president for help. A second asylum application is currently pending.