Photo/Illutration Lawyer Koji Yamada speaks about the granting of refugee status to a Kurdish man with Turkish nationality he represents at a news conference in Sapporo on August 9. (Haruto Hiraoka)

A 30-year-old Kurdish man with Turkish nationality has been granted refugee status, according to government sources, which a refugee advocate group praised as the first such case in Japan. 

Koji Yamada, a lawyer representing the Kurdish man, said he was recognized as a refugee on July 28 by the Immigration Services Agency of Japan (ISA) before being issued a certification letter on Aug. 9.

According to the Japan Lawyers Network for Refugees, this is the first time that a Kurd who holds Turkish nationality was recognized as a refugee in Japan.

“I almost exhausted all my strength during the long fight, but confidence in justice and the law was maintained," said the Kurdish man, who took eight years to gain refugee status. "I wish that the justice achieved will bring hope to others as well.”

The man came to Japan in February 2014.

Both of his applications for refugee status that he submitted in April 2014 and 2018 on the grounds that Kurdish people were persecuted in Turkey were rejected.

He filed a lawsuit at the Sapporo District Court in 2019 demanding that the decision not to grant him refugee status be revoked.

After the district court decided not to overturn the decision, he appealed the ruling to a higher court.

In May, a Sapporo High Court ruling pointed out that he had been tortured as he had bruises and scars that he would not have sustained in his daily life.

It said that he would be at risk of persecution and would not be protected in Turkey.

It concluded that he qualified as a refugee and that the decision not to recognize him as such was illegal.

The ruling was finalized as the government decided not to appeal it.

It is believed that the ISA reconsidered the case following the high court’s ruling, before concluding that no new circumstances have emerged that should prohibit him from gaining refugee status.

A total of 74 foreigners were recognized as refugees in Japan in 2021.

It is estimated that around 2,000 Kurds with Turkish nationality reside in Japan, but none had gained refugee status until now, inviting criticism directed toward the difficulty in doing so.

Yamada praised the latest decision saying, “This is an important decision and a big step forward.”

(This article was written by Haruto Hiraoka and Kosuke Tauchi.)

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