From Women for Refugee Women:
Please take a few minutes to help this young girl who is in need of urgent assistance from you.
Meltem Avcil and her mother Cennet, who have been held in Yarls Wood detention centre for almost three months, are facing removal to Germany on 07.30 Hrs, Thursday 15 November. Meltem is just 14, and has been living in this country for six years.
Juliet Stevenson, the actress, who met Meltem last week while visiting Yarls Wood detention centre with Women for Refugee Women, said, “I am shocked that this young girl is being put through such an ordeal.”
Meltem’s mother and father were persecuted in Turkey for being Kurds, and she and her mother are in a terrible state at the prospect of being deported to Germany from where they fear they will be sent on to Turkey.
Meltem and her mum are asking you to ask the German authorities not to receive them into Germany and they are asking you to ask British Airways not to fly them to Dusseldorf this Thursday.
TAKE ACTION NOW
1. EMAIL THE GERMAN AUTHORITIES using the model email below to: Mr
Eckhart Will, Email: Eckehard.Will@bamf.bund.de .
(please copy/amend/write your own version)
2. FAX BRITISH AIRWAYS using the model fax message asking them not to carry out the removal of Meltem and Cennet Avcil from the UK .
Fax : British Airways Chief Executive Officer on 0208 738 9801
Fax : British Airways Press Office on 0208 738 9838.
(please copy/amend/write your own version, quoting flight Flight No. BA0936 from Heathrow Airport Terminal 1, to Dusseldorf , Germany , at 7.30 HRS on Thursday 15 November 2007)
Thank you for your time and support
See below for model email.
Model Email
FAO Mr Eckhart Will
German Third Country Unit
Germany
Dear Mr Will,
YOUR REF: 2728437: CENNET AVCIL AND MELTEM AVCIL
I am writing to ask that your Government excuse itself from the responsibility of allowing the United Kingdom Government to remove Mrs Cennet Avcil and her 14-year-old daughter Meltem from the UK to Germany this British airways Thursday 15th November 2007, 7am Terminal 1, , Heathrow to Dusseldorf. The Avcil family has exceptional and compassionate grounds for not being returned to Germany :
a) Meltem Avcil is 14 years old and about to turn 15 on November 21st 2007.
b) She has been in school in the UK for six years
c) Mrs Avcil and her daughter have never absconded
d) Both mother and child have been detained like criminals for almost three months. She has had no appropriate schooling since being incarcerated. She has had poor medical and social support. Her mental and psychological state has deteriorated, from being a normal, healthy bubbly teenager to a scared, depressed, lonely young girl, turning to self harm (she began cutting herself a few days ago).
I believe that it is in the best interests of this child to be returned to her home in Doncaster, the familiarity of her school, friends and teachers, and to have access within this comfort zone to psychiatrists to assist her in returning to her former happy self.
I strongly believe that it would be against the family’s human rights to be returned to a country with which they have absolutely no connection.
I therefore respectfully request that the German government allow this young girl to return to her community, friends, her school and most of importantly of all, the only country that she has ever known to be truly her home.
Yours sincerely,
______________________________________________________________
Model Fax Message
To: British Airways Chief Executive Officer: 0208 738 9801
British Airways Press Office on 0208 738 9838
Dear Sir / Madam,
Forced Removal of Cennet Avcil and Meltem Avcil
7.30 HRS on Thursday 15 November 2007
British Airways Flight No. BA0936 from London Heathrow , UK to Dusseldorf , Germany
I urge you to not carry out the forced removal of this family on your airline, whose case has now been picked up by the UK press and is gathering support all over the UK and parts of Europe.
The Avcil family has exceptional and compassionate grounds for not being returned to Germany :
a) Meltem Avcil is 14 years old and about to turn 15 on November 21st 2007.
b) She has been in school in the UK for six years
c) Mrs Avcil and her daughter have never absconded
d) Both mother and child have been detained like criminals for almost three months. She has had NO schooling since being incarcerated. She has had poor medical and social support. Her mental and psychological state has deteriorated, from being a normal, healthy bubbly teenager to a scared, depressed, lonely young girl, turning to self harm (She began cutting herself a few days ago)
I believe that it is in the best interests of this child to be returned to her home in Doncaster, the familiarity of her school, friends and teachers, and to have access within this comfort zone to psychiatrists to assist her in returning to her former happy self.
I strongly believe that it would be against the family’s human rights to be returned to a country they have absolutely no connection with.
I therefore urge you to not carry out the forced removal of this family on your airline.
Yours Sincerely,
