|
 Abhazya
Dışişleri Bakanı Sayın Sergey Samba'ya vize vermeyen ABD'nin
yanı sıra Avrupa ülkelerinde de Abhaz vatandaşların vize
almalarında sorunlar yaşanmakta. Yine bu sorunlardan bir
tanesi geçtiğimiz gün İngiltere’de yaşandı. Abhazya’nın
İngiltere fahri konsolosu, dilbilimci George Hewitt’in bu
konu ile ilgili “Circassian Academia” ya gönderdiği metnin
orijinal hali ve Türkçe çevirisini, yine Sayın Hewitt’in
Moskova'daki İngiliz Konsolosluğu’nun özellikle Abhaz etnik
kökenlilerine yönelik yanlış (kötü) uygulaması ile ilgili
Devlet Bakanı Lord Triesman'a gönderdiği şikayet
dilekçesinin orijinal metnini aşağıda bulabilirsiniz.
Değerli katılımcılar,
Aşağıdaki mektup, bu sabah Londra’ya Devlet Bakanı Lord
Triesman'a yollanan mektubun aynısıdır. Metin kendisini
ifade etmektedir. İngiltere 'de Paskalya'yı geçirmek üzere
davet ettiğim iki Abhaz hanımın Moskova'daki Birleşik
Krallık Konsolluğu’nda karşılaştığı hatalı uygulamanın
ülkenizde mümkün olduğunca duyurulmasını rica ederim.
İngiliz görevlilerinin bu davranışlarının Abhazlar’la
sınırlı olmadığını (www.expat.ru) adresinden görmek
mümkündür.
Kanıtlayamasam da yanlış uygulamanın bu iki hanımın Abhaz
etnik kimliği ile bağlantılı olduğunu düşünmekteyim. Olayın
diğer bir yönü de benim adımın karalanmasıdır.
Çünkü vize talebinin red gerekçesi hanımların vize süresi
bitiminde geri dönmeye niyetlerinin olmaması şeklindedir.
Gerekçe ile onlara sponsor olan bana Kafkasyalıları illegal
olarak İngiltere’ye getirme (sızdırma), çamuru atılmak
istenmektedir ki bunu tamamen reddetmekteyim.
Umarım bu bilgi basında, diğer medyada ( özellikle Türkiye
ve Rusya’da) ve pek çok dilde yaygın bir şekilde
duyurulabilir. İngiliz görevlilerinin, masumca bu toprağı
ziyaret etmek isteyen yabancılara ve onları davet edenlere
bu şekilde davranma haklarının olduğunu düşünmeleri bir
skandaldır. .Bu durumda, bu hatalı uygulamanın sona ermesini
istiyorsanız lütfen olayın ülkenizde basında tartışılmasına
önayak olunuz.
Yardımlarınız için teşekkür ederim.
George Hewitt
Çeviri : Ergun Özgür
Circassian Academia gönderilen metnin orijinali
Dear All,
The letter below is almost identical to one lodged this
morning with Minister of State Lord Triesman in London. The
text speaks for itself. The appalling treatment by the UK
consular authorities in Moscow of two Abkhazians who were
invited by myself to spend Easter in England must be
publicised as widely as possible. Whilst such behaviour on
the part of the British officials seems not to be limited to
Abkhazians (see www.expat.ru for further examples), I cannot
but feel that the ladies' Abkhazian ethnicity has a role to
play here. In addition to that aspect of the case, there is
the slur on my own good name, insofar as the official
refusal to grant visas comes down to a stated belief that
the ladies have no intention of leaving the UK at the end of
their visit, which suggests that I, as their sponsor, am
engaged in infiltrating Caucasian nationals into the UK
illegally, a slur which I repudiate totally.
I wish this business to become as widely known as possible
by articles in the press and other news-media in as many
countries (notably Russia and Turkey) and in as many
languages as possible.
It is a scandal that officials of the British Government
should feel they have the right to behave in this way,
whether towards foreigners innocently invited to visit these
shores or towards those who issue the invitations.
And so, if you are interested in doing what you can to
ensure that this mistreatment ceases, please try to get the
case discussed in the media in your countries.
Thank you in advance for your help.
George Hewitt
Devlet Bakanı Lord Triesman'a gönderilen mektup
COMPLAINT re Consulate at the UK's Moscow Embassy
It never occurred to me that, with so many years of
experience dealing with Soviet officialdom, it would take
frustration with British consular officials in Moscow (and,
perhaps, London) that would compel me to write this letter
of complaint. But such have been the circumstances in which
I and my family found ourselves over Easter that I have no
option.
In 1976 I married an Abkhazian while spending the academic
year in Tbilisi. I had nothing but the kindest of advice and
help from the Moscow consular officials, headed by Colin
Salmon, at that time and in the days when my wife was
finally able to join me in England at the start of 1977.
During the last 30 years two of my wife's brothers and her
two sisters have visited us without any problems whatsoever;
one sister, in fact, has been here twice: her eldest brother
Vladimir visited us in Hull in the early 1980s; in 1988 her
brother Evgeny and younger sister Zamira visited at the time
of our move from Hull to Doncaster; and finally Zamira came
with the oldest sibling Zoia in 1991. Since the war
inflicted on Abkhazia by Georgia (Aug 1992 to Sept 1993), we
have not issued any invitations to family-members — in the
aftermath of the war no-one had thoughts of anything but to
rebuild their lives, and then the international community
decided not to recognise the passports possessed by most
Abkhazians (sister-in-law Zamira in fact lost her passport
during the war, and, in answer to my counselling her to
acquire a Georgian passport from the Georgian consulate in
Sochi, I was told in no uncertain terms that she would
rather lose the right to travel outside her native Abkhazia
than accept a passport from a state that had killed three of
her cousins); only over the last 2-3 years, since Russia
started issuing its own passports to Abkhazians applying for
them, has it become possible for us to consider inviting
relatives again. However, we have, since 1995, visited
Abkhazia either biennially or annually. This Easter, while I
was free from duties at London University and both our
daughters would be free at home to entertain their cousins,
we planned to bring two nieces from Abkhazia to spend a
month with us in Doncaster to help repay some of the kind
hospitality we have enjoyed at their and their families'
hands over the years. The nieces (Saida Vladimirovna Khiba,
and Diana Evgenevna Khiba) are in their early 30s and mid-20s
respectively, daughters to the two brothers mentioned above
who each spent a month in the UK; they are travelling on the
Russian passports they have only recently been able to
obtain, passports which are entirely valid and issued in
accordance with Russian law, and I am aware of a number of
other visitors to these shores from Abkhazia who travel with
similar documents.
In order that everything should be in place for their trip
to proceed smoothly, I sent letters of invitation at the
beginning of January 2007, letters which were copied at the
time by fax direct to the Moscow consulate so that the staff
there would be aware well in advance of our plans and so
that it would come as no surprise when the girls presented
themselves to apply for their entry-visas. I made it clear
that the cost of the trip, including their time in the UK,
would be borne by myself, and so the level of their income
should have been of no interest to anybody — I issued the
invitation, though not their blood-relative, as my wife,
Zaira, is a housewife with no income sufficient to be able
to claim that she could herself cover such expenses. The
nieces duly arrived in Moscow and presented themselves at
the agency near the Embassy where such applications have to
be lodged on Thursday 15 March. They were told that they
needed to provide evidence of my income and savings. Whilst
this might be seen as something of an insult in itself (after
all, how many applicants turn up at the agency with
invitations from professors at London University who are
also Fellows of the British Academy?), that very evening I
scanned and e-mailed to them copies of my last salary-slip
and my last bank-statement. I might add that I had earlier
tried to phone to the consulate's number given on their
website to ascertain exactly how I could satisfy this
requirement only to find myself listening to an automated
response that gave me no option of talking to a human being
and cut me off when the totally unhelpful information there
recorded had been imparted. It so happened that that
selfsame day I had received a communication from the FCO on
another matter, and included within it was the e-mail
address of a member of the Moscow consular staff, Neil
Abbott, and so I thought I would ensure that the information
required was in the hands of the consulate as quickly as
possible by sending to him also by e-mail copies of the said
scans; I wish to point out that no acknowledgement was ever
sent to me, nor was anything else drawn to my attention by
this individual (or anybody else) to indicate that there
might be a problem to be faced by the nieces, and so I
assumed that all would proceed efficiently and in good time.
The nieces duly presented their documents on Friday 16 March
and were told to expect their visas within 3-4 days.
Two weeks [sic] later on Thursday 29 March the consulate's
website was still giving them no indication that their visas
were ready. Fearing that the consulate might be acting in a
deliberately obstructive way in line with the generally
anti-Abkhazian policy pursued by various UK administrations
and the FCO since Georgia's aggression of 1992, I thought I
would alert some contacts in the House of Lords who have
taken a more sympathetic stance over the years to various
oppressed peoples in the Caucasus and so tried to get in
touch with Lord Avebury, Lord Rea, Lord Ahmed and Lord
Hylton to see if, through the channels available to them,
they could expedite matters. Lords Rea and Hylton were
already away from London for the Easter recess, and I had no
reply from Lord Ahmed, but Lord Avebury kindly offered to do
what he could. On Friday 30 March I discovered the direct-number
of the visa-officer and rang at 2 pm (Moscow time) — a lady
answered. I gave the passport-details of the nieces and
asked what was happening. She told me that all she could say
was that the application was still being processed. I went
on to mention that I'd been in touch with her colleague
Abbott and with yourself. She cut me off by saying: 'I am
aware of that. People like you are always trying to put
pressure on us when we are only doing our jobs.' This was
not said in an objectionable tone of voice, but the choice
of words does perhaps reveal a certain attitude. The fact of
the matter is that, if, after two weeks of 'processing' the
application, the consular staff were still unable to come to
a decision, then something must be seriously wrong with
their procedures.
However, the lady's next question and comment came as a bolt
from the blue. She asked when we were expecting our visitors
(as though my invitation-letter, in the consulate's hands
since January, did not make this clear), to which I replied
that they couldn't come until they had their visas. 'But
when do you expect them?' she reiterated. 'As soon as they
get their visas, as we want them here over Easter,' I
replied. 'In that case, why have they applied to travel only
from 2nd May?' she countered... We immediately rang the
girls and discovered that they had interpreted the request
for the 'Data priezda' ('Date of Arrival' (priezd)) as
implying 'coming BACK to Moscow', which was, of course, the
start of May! Had they let us see the application before
submitting it, we'd have picked this blatant error up at
once, but what was to be done? [I have to say that, when I
fill in my yearly application for a Russian visa, I am asked
to state date of entry to, AND date of exit from, Russia.
Would it not be an idea to consider rewording this part of
our application-form to avoid repetition of such a
misreading?]. Perhaps the consular officials will argue that,
since they were going by the girls' application-form rather
than my invitation-letter, they assumed there was no hurry
and had taken no action to process the application. If that
IS their argument, I would suggest that the only way to deal
with applications is strictly in the order in which they are
lodged. That way everyone will know in roughly the same
amount of time, if they have been successful or not with
their application, and, if not, appropriate appeals can be
made in good time. I would not have considered approaching
anybody such as yourself to offer a helping hand, if I had
considered that our nieces' applications were being treated
properly and with the respect they deserved. As nothing had
happened for two weeks, I felt I had no choice but to try to
hurry things along. And, in any case, it should have been
clear from my invitation-letter and my e-mail to consular
official Abbott that the girls were expected for Easter.
The nieces rang the consulate to see if they could change
the date and were told to come in on the Monday morning, as
nothing could be decided over the phone. That Friday evening
at 5.40 pm I rang the Caucasus Desk at the FCO, explained
the situation and asked if it would be possible for them
simply to change the date. I was told that it probably would
NOT be possible to do this. I communicated all this to Lord
Avebury, and he copied me in to an e-mail you sent to Lord
Triesman and others requesting to do what they could to
ensure that this unfortunate slip be ignored and that visas
be issued straightaway for immediate travel. On the morning
of Monday 2 April the nieces presented themselves at the
consulate to be told that they could NOT change the date of
their travel. What principle of national security (or of
anything else) could possibly be served by such rank
pettiness?
Nevertheless that very day, after over 2 weeks of apparent
inaction, phonecalls were made from the consulate to the
younger sister of Saida Khiba (Fatima) and to her employer.
Fatima and the head of Saida's school were asked about the
girls' work, intentions, relatives in the UK (including me,
and daughters Amra and Gunda) and the political situation in
Abkhazia (as though this had anything to do with a private
invitation to spend one month with aunt, uncle and cousins).
Fatima asked if the visas would be granted and was told that
they would. It seemed to us that the consulate had roused
itself into action that day probably more as a result of
your intervention than in any spirit of correctly carrying
out their duties. But, would it not have been more sensible
to quiz me, as the prospective host, in order to determine
if the invitation was for proper or nefarious purposes?
On Wednesday 4 April in the afternoon the consular website
indicated that our nieces' passports were ready for
collection from the agency. Naively we all assumed that this
meant that the visas had been granted. However, we
counselled caution and that no tickets should be booked
until the visas were safely in the nieces' hands. The
following day the girls presented themselves first thing at
the agency, only to find that UK holidays were being
observed and that it would reopen no earlier than Tuesday 10
April. Though our relatives had not booked their flight,
they met someone else that morning at the agency who, having
seen, like them, that their passport was available for
collection the previous day, had indeed made such a booking
for the Easter weekend. This callous disregard by the
consulate and/or its agency for innocent citizens unprepared
for the vagaries of dealing with UK officialdom (in general
but especially around holiday-periods) is something else
that needs to be examined. It should be stated quite
explicitly on the website where the progress (or otherwise)
of one's application can be monitored that availability of
passports does NOT automatically mean that visa-applications
have been approved.
So, the Easter weekend came and went with our nieces still
confined to barracks in Moscow. First thing on Tuesday 10
April they retrieved their passports, minus their visas but
with an instruction to present themselves for interview
along with ALL the documentation that they had originally
submitted, including the copies of my passport, salary- and
bank-statements. As they assumed that the interviews would
be conducted that day and as they did not have with them the
copies of my documents, they went to an internet-cafe and
made duplicates. Then they waited around until the consulate
itself opened its doors, namely 2 pm (Moscow time), when
they were told to come back on Friday 13 April, i.e. exactly
one month after they submitted their application in the
first place! Standing in queues, non-Brits tend to speak to
one another. Last Monday they met someone from the Caucasus
who was applying that very day to come to England, like them,
for the first time. On Tuesday this week they met that
person again. That person received the requested visa (without
any interview) and flew to London the following day. What
possible justification can there be for granting that
application in 3-4 working-days (i.e. excluding the days
closed for Easter), whilst keeping two girls waiting for an
entire month? Is the consulate prepared to recompense these
ladies for the expenses they have incurred and to offer
compensation for the unnecessary inconvenience imposed on
all concerned (potential hosts and guests alike) in the way
described above? Each day air-fares rise as summer
approaches, and the cost of flights from Moscow has gone up
about 50% during this wasted month — is any compensation
going to be offered for to cover any eventual flight they
are enabled to catch?
On Friday 13 April the nieces arrived at the time scheduled
for their interview, namely 9.30 am (Moscow time). The
interview was duly conducted. They were then asked to wait
for a reply. They were kept waiting for the ENTIRE day, only
to discover at the close of the consulate's working day that
their application had been refused. A number of reasons were
given, the first being that it had been over 20 years since
any members of their immediate families had been invited to
the UK from Abkhazia! As related above, Saida’s father came
in the early 80s, whilst Diana’s father was here in 1988 (19
years ago). So what? It is up to my wife and myself whom we
choose from OUR family, and in the Caucasus the notion
‘immediate family’ has little relevance, for in
circumstances of the extended family-pattern existing there
even cousins are colloquially referred to as ‘brothers/sisters’.
Also, I have already explained why it was not possible in
intervening years for such visits to be made, as consulates
such as our own would not have accepted Abkhazian travel-documents.
This is something of which a properly informed and
functioning consulate should have been fully aware. It is
suggested that the nieces, and I by implication, are
involved in a plan to get them into this country so that
they can remain here for a better life. If it had been this
family's intention to bring Abkhazians to this country for a
better life, we would have done it in the immediate
aftermath of the war, when the country was in a desperate
strait and when old travel-documents were still be accepted
by the international community. We did not do this. Anyone
familiar with year-on-year progress made in Abkhazia to
develop an admittedly strained economy in the conditions of
blockade to which the country, with full UK support, has
been subjected would know that life now is much more
bearable and pleasant than 10-12 years ago. The nieces are
perfectly happy with their lot and have no intention of
abandoning their homeland (nor, I suspect, would they want
to live in such an unwelcoming country as the one whose
consular officials have treated them in this unconscionable
way). The person who conducted the interview was misinformed
when he verbally told Saida that he was under the impression
that the average monthly wage in Abkhazia is a mere 120
roubles; you will note that, despite this, he argues that
her low wage of 1,100 roubles per month is not sufficiently
attractive for her to consider returning home. In Diana’s
refusal letter a query is raised about her personal
circumstances. This seem again betrays ignorance of
Abkhazian lifestyles, for unmarried girls/women in Abkhazia
are expected to live with their parents/families.
How many people can be expected to travel 30 hours by train
to Moscow to wait around for a month for the British
authorities to make their minds up about issuing visas and
then to be dismissed with such a ludicrous explanation? Is
this a deliberate policy decided somewhere in Whitehall to
discourage certain classes of applicants from considering
applying to visit these shores? — evidently a number of
individuals emerged from the consulate at the same time in
tears. Is it a deliberate policy to single out and treat
with such disdain Abkhazians travelling on Russian passports
in order to make them more compliant about accepting
Georgian domination, which would better suit the policy-makers
in London and Washington (though hardly serve the interests
of the Abkhazians themselves, who are in a better position
to decide their own fate than those who would like to impose
one on them from afar)? Is it a deliberate policy to remind
this particular critic of British foreign policy in
Transcaucasia that this is the treatment his relatives can
expect if they dare to seek to come to this country? Or is
it just a mixture of plain incompetence and sheer bloody-mindedness?
Whatever the reason, I think all interested generally in the
way people we invite to this country can expect to be
treated by our consular officials or more especially in
Caucasian affairs deserve to know. If this level of
professionalism and service is how our representatives
choose to present this country to potential visitors from
Russia, they should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. And
if this behaviour is a result of official policy, then we,
the citizens of this country, should be ashamed that this is
how we as a nation are represented and presented to the
world via our embassies, whose ethical standards have sunk
so low. I might have expected such cheap bureaucratic nit-picking
from Soviet officialdom; I expect better from Gt. Britain's
civil servants, whose salaries are paid out of the taxes of
the citizens they are supposed to serve. Is anyone able to
justify the decision made in this case on clearly incorrect
data? And what reaction can I expect in future, should I
wish to issue any further invitations to relatives in
Abkhazia?
Yours sincerely,
George Hewitt
Professor Caucasian Languages
Fellow of the British Academy
Honorary Fellow of the Abkhazian Academy of Sciences
Honorary Fellow of the Circassian International Academy of
Sciences
Best wishes, George Hewitt FBA
(Prof. of Caucasian Languages) |