Krasnodar Territory: judicial solution of Kurds' citizenship problem

The Korenovskiy District Court of the Krasnodar Territory is hearing the case of four Kurds who are trying to become Russian citizens.

The applicants arrived to the Korenovskiy and Krymskiy Districts of Kuban (historical name of the Krasnodar Territory) back in 1989, after the earthquake in Armenia. They still have their 1974-type Soviet passports, and some of them are still registered in Armenia. Not being formal citizens of Russia, the Kurds are deprived of a lot of constitutional rights: official employment, free movement, free-of-charge entrance to higher schools.

In this connection, the Krasnodar Public Organization "Southern Regional Resource Centre" addressed the Korenovskiy District Court with a request to oblige the Federal Migration Service to recognize eight Kurds to be Russian citizens.

Judge Andrei Mosin accepted only four applications. The remaining four ones went to Judge Yagudina who refused to consider them stating that "the fact of residence is not the basis for citizenship." However, Yulia Drobot, lawyer of the "Southern Regional Resource Centre," said to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that this refusal will be appealed against at the Regional Court.