ROME, Italy — A Kurdish cultural center has become home to up to 200 Kurdish refugees who are seeking asylum in the European Union or trying to find work in Italy.
The Ararat (mountain) center is located in a former salami factory tucked into a small alley central Rome. It was first used by Kurdish refugees who squatted in the building in 1999, when thousands of Kurds fled persecution and poverty in Turkey and Iraq.
It now carries the distinction of being the only Kurdish cultural center in Italy and is home to dozens of Kurds from Turkey and refugees who have escaped the war in Syria.
Italy is the key gateway for hundreds of thousands of migrants trying to enter Europe by sea. Increasingly, Syrian refugees are making difficult, and often deadly, journey through the Mediterranean.
UNHCR reported that over 11,300 Syrians and Palestinians, including more than 2,400 children, were rescued off the coast of Italy in 2013 — the most of any country. Only 6 percent applied for asylum, however, with most traveling to other countries.
The number of Syrian asylum seekers is on the rise. In April and May alone, the Italian Navy rescued 5,300 people from Syria off the coast compared to around 300 in the same period last year.
Most at Ararat center are Turkish or Syrian Kurds, with more Syrians arriving every day. As well as providing a roof over refugees' heads, the Ararat center helps them apply for asylum in the EU and find jobs. The center even has a small farm with sheep that remind residents of their rural homes, a respite for those who have made a difficult journey.
In a report released last year, Amnesty International recounted the harrowing journey of hundreds of Syrian refugees, including children who lost their families — and barely survived themselves — when a boat carrying desperate families fleeing the war sunk in October.
Many Kurdish asylum seekers say they prefer Italy over other European countries even though Italy offers Syrian refugees little resettlement hope.
"There's less racism here than in other countries like Germany or France,” said one refugee who, like the others, asked not to be named. “There's a lot of racism there; when you're foreign people look at you as if you were a dog. Here we can at least be together."
In July, UNHCR appealed to European states to boost its slots for Syria’s more than 2.9 million refugees, noting that just 4 percent, or around 124,000, are claiming asylum in Europe. Most are in Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey, which are hosting 2.9 million Syrian refugees alone.
Italy says it has earmarked at least €20.7 million ($28 million) in aid to support Syrian refugees in those countries, but along with the UK and 18 other EU member states, has no resettlement spots for Syrians.
“The EU has miserably failed to play its part in providing a safe haven to the refugees who have lost all but their lives. The number of those it’s prepared to resettle is truly pitiful,” Amnesty International Secretary-General Salil Shetty said in a statement.
Only about 10 of the center’s 50 current residents have work permits. The others are waiting for their applications to be processed, leaving them in desperate need of the room and board the center provides.
In Italy "no one helps you find anywhere to sleep or anything to eat, and every night there are hundreds of migrants sleeping at Termini (Rome) railway station," said another refugee.
NGOs like the Ararat center are doing their best to help the new arrivals, but many are operating on tight budgets.
Like much of Europe, Italy is stemming immigration as it faces serious economic challenges. The country’s youth unemployment is 43.7 percent, the highest in 33 years, and official unemployment was 12.3 percent in June, the government reported this week.
Germany, which has the strongest economy in Europe, has set aside 25,500 slots for refugees from Syria, by far the most of any country.
UNHCR is calling for nations to accept at least 100,000 Syrian refugees in 2015 and 2016, more than triple the number of slots currently set aside for asylum seekers in countries ranging from Australia to Europe to North America.
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