Statelessness Working Paper Series No. 2016/02 as yet not had the opportunity to explain their stateless situation to officials.31 One individual in Germany since June 2015 said that on three occasions she has visited the local council offices to clarify her status, and each time had been informed not to return until being called for interview. All of these research participants spoke of the anxiety, and in some cases depression, caused by having no clear understanding of their situation or future. Many are fearful that their claims will not be understood or believed, knowing that other asylum seekers profess to be maktumeen, when they may not actually be Kurds from Syria, leading to a certain caution within European immigration systems. This is compounded by misunderstandings of the current situation following Decree No. 49, whereby some stateless Kurdish asylum seekers report having been challenged that they ought to have received nationality since 2011. The above-mentioned limitations of the Decree and fact that not all have been in a position to benefit from its provisions are consequently overlooked.32 “There is a history of Europe misunderstanding the situation of stateless Kurds,” says Shivan. Prior to 2011, for example, the UK legal system had generally considered the treatment of stateless Kurds in Syria not to amount to a real risk of persecution and breach of human rights. A 2006 appeal tribunal, which revealed unfamiliarity with the differences in rights and documentation between ajanib and maktumeen, went on to conclude that legal restrictions and deprivations faced by the stateless Kurd in question had not “materially damaged or would damage the quality of his life and nor could anything different be said with regard to the situation of any other persons living as a stateless Kurd whether Ajanib or Maktumeen [sic] in Syria.”33 Moreover, an appeal judge in 2009 determined that, “indeed the very fact that a stateless, undocumented Kurd cannot legally get an exit visa may even diminish the seriousness of the offence.”34 Such commentary indicates a failure not only to recognize statelessness caused by ethnicity-based discriminatory state practices as persecution,35 but also to comprehend the political/security situation in Syria, in which the government viewed stateless Kurds as having an innately dangerous political identity – an identity that was beyond their own control. Many stateless Kurds actively would seek to maintain a low profile in order to avoid government harassment, and recounted how officials would often perceive their statelessness to be a signal of anti-government activity or identity.36 Multiple research participants narrated strikingly similar dialogues with officials in Syria that had led to their imprisonment or mistreatment: “Where is your ID?” – “I don’t have one.” – “Why not?” – “I don’t know, I just don’t have one.” – “But why don’t you have one?” – “They didn’t give me one.” – “Who didn’t?” – “The government.” – “And why not?” – “I don’t know. They just didn’t” – “You must be some kind of criminal. Come with me...” 31 Further research, with a larger number of respondents, is required in order to draw conclusions about the comparative treatment of stateless persons arriving to different European countries, and to examine the impact that the respective country’s legislative framework and procedures for statelessness determination have on the experiences of newly arrived stateless asylum seekers. 32 It appears that this point has been addressed in the Swiss legal system, as reported in Pablo Amaiz ‘Staatenlose im internationalen und schweizerischen Recht’ [Stateless in International and Swiss law] (Masters Thesis: 2015) p. 21. 33 United Kingdom Asylum and Immigration Tribunal [UKAIT] 00048, AR (Kurd: not risk per se) Syria CG (2006), pp. 16, 20 <www.refworld.org/pdfid/46836a9f0.pdf>. 34 United Kingdom Asylum and Immigration Tribunal [UKAIT] 00006, SA and IA (Undocumented Kurds) Syria CG (2009), p. 46 <http://www.refworld.org/pdfid/498876732.pdf>. 35 The sinister motivations behind deprivation of citizenship for Kurds are clearly spelled out in Muhammed Taleb Hilal, ‘Study of the Jazira Province: from the National, Social and Political Perspectives’ (1963). 36 Zahra Albarazi, ‘The Stateless Syrians’ (2013) p. 28. 7