MOSCOW, Russia – A Kurdish family fleeing the violence in Syria have spent seven weeks in a Moscow airport – after the Russians told them their visas were fakes and refused them entry.
The Ahmads believed their prayers had been answered after they got visas allowing them to move to Russia from war-torn Erbil, in Iraq.
They had made the city their home after fleeing their own country, in fear for their lives as ISIS’s murderous extremists got ever closer.
But the family’s hopes of a new life were dashed when they arrived in Moscow on September 12 to be told the visas were fake, and they would have to return to Syria.
However, father Hassan Ahmad believes returning means certain death, and ever since the family have been stuck in limbo, living in Sheremetyevo Airport surrounded by their belongings.
‘This is transit for coming here – one hour, two hour. But for us, it is 40 days,’ explained son Rinas. ‘Sometimes its cold, very cold.’
The Ahmads and their four children – 12-year-old Rinas, Rozkar, nine, Lund, seven, and Lavin, three – slept on the floor for the first 44 days.
For the last six – after Mr Ahmad’s wife Gulistan ended up in hospital – the government have allowed them to stay in one of the airport hotels.
Food is provided by UNICEF, and a number of NGOs have started to lobby the Russian government on the family’s behalf.
But, as a lawyer attempts to untangle the mess, the family are struggling to see an end to their plight.
‘How can people just watch this happen? How can people be so heartless?’ the desperate father asked the BBC.
Speaking to CNN, the musician added: ‘Officials at the airport treated me like a terrorist.
‘Do I look like a terrorist? Is this how they treat a father surrounded by his wife and his four kids, all desperate to live a normal life?’
