Stories
of Courage
A Greek island welcomes a refugee doctor
from Iraq.
Dr Soleiman Barzani attending to a young patient in his paediatrics clinic on Ios island.
UNHCR/T. Katechis
What is an Iraqi of Kurdish origin doing
on a Greek island? We immediately think of rusty boats arriving
at the islands, carrying exhausted and thirsty men, women
and children, often a mix of economic migrants and asylum
seekers fleeing the conflict at home. Soleiman Barzani was
a refugee too. But now those days are over. Fifteen years
after he arrived in Greece, he is now a Greek citizen, with
a pediatrics clinic on los, an island situated between Greece
and Turkey.
In 1975, at the tender age of five, Bazani
and his family fled Iraq for Iran, where they spent many
turbulent years as refugees. But after graduating from high
school in Iran, Barzani was given a unique opportunity when
the Greek government offered him a university scholarship.
Life
in Greece was very difficult in the beginning. After dealing
with the inevitable bureaucratic hurdles, Barzani succeeded
in getting a place at the University of Thessaloniki to learn
Greek. Then in 1990, because his student residence
permit did not protect him from one day being returned to
Iraq against his will, he applied for asylum.
Barzani later
moved to the medical school of the University of Patras,
in the Peloponnese, but without informing the police of his
change of residence. "The police were
looking for me in Thessaloniki for the refugee status determination
interview, and I was in Patras," recalled Barzani. "I
got a rejection notice in 1991, and then second and third
rejections on appeal. I had no residence permit, just my
student card." Barzani continued the story: "I
visited the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR), which took
me under its wing, and granted me a UNHCR refugee card. They
also gave me a small allowance, and the support of a social
worker to help me cope with my problems."
The first
year at university was hard for Barzani. He was anxious about
his legal status, and had to cope with a different culture
and language. All this while missing his family, and feeling
lonely and traumatized by memories of his childhood. "What
frustrated me more than anything else was that without any
legal documents, I could not withdraw the scholarship funds
from the bank," he remembered. "I still feel strong
gratitude for the employee at a bank in Patras who, risking
his job, gave me the money without requesting any identification
or residence permit other than my student card."
Barzani
says that the support he received from some individuals gave
him the strength and courage to survive the tough years. "It
meant a lot to me when the president of the Patras medical
school, and the dean of the university, sent letters of support
to the Ministry of Public Order in 1995 and 1996," he
added gratefully.
After graduating from medical school,
Barzani went to Athens and worked in a flower shop while
trying to finalize the formalities needed to start his specialization
as a paediatrician. "At
the same time I started a very big project for me to be recognized
as a refugee," he said. "UNHCR helped me
resubmit my case, since I had not even been granted an interview
the first time." He explains: "When people live
in uncertainty, they cannot plan for their future, they cannot
live a normal life, and their only preoccupation is how to
solve their problem." Barzani's appeal was finally successful
in October 2002 – 12 years after he first sought asylum – and
at last he became officially recognized as a refugee in Greece.
After he finished his specialization training,
Barzani started working as a part-time interpreter and as
a doctor for Médecins
du Monde (MdM). "Through this experience, I realized
that I am not the only person on earth who has problems.
MdM and other non-governmental organizations such as the
Social Work Foundation and the Hellenic Red Cross helped
me to help other people in need. They also helped me to grow
out of the stereotypes and prejudices I had acquired in my
childhood. They showed me that every human being is equal."
Other
paediatricians who know Barzani call him "one
of the best doctors we have." One of them noted, "The
children love him, the parents respect him and his medical
expertise is superb." In
June 2003, at the instigation of the president of Agia Sofia
children's hospital, Barzani decided to settle on Ios island,
where he opened his own pediatrics clinic. The island's public
health centre had been trying to find a pediatrician for
several years without luck, perhaps because of the lonely
winter months.
"Once the mayor found someone willing
to assume the job, he didn't want to lose me, so he fully
supported my case for citizenship, a prerequisite for recruitment
in the public sector," said
Barzani, who has earned the community's trust with his medical
proficiency.
In April 2004, Barzani received Greek
citizenship, a privilege granted to very few people of non- Greek
origin. "I
cannot tell you how happy I was when I got the news -- I
could not believe it!" he
recalls with pride. He is now awaiting military service to
fulfil his public duty to his new country.
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