Blessing to be in haven

At age 16 Kurdish Iraqi refugee Omar Hazan watched as soldiers from Saddam Hussein's army massacred his entire village. Daily Post reporter Matthew Martin spoke with Hazan about his flight from war and racial hatred to his new life in Rotorua.
Omar Hazan is a survivor. For as long as he can remember his life has been filled with war, death and racial abuse.

His story is one of almost unimaginable hardship and heartbreak - that was until he came to New Zealand.

Born into conflict, his earliest memories are of war. At the age of just 16 Hazan witnessed the massacre of his entire village. Those people included babies, old men, woman and children.

"The army came and made everyone stand in a big field outside the village. They took my mother, four sisters and my brother - I saw helicopters come down and shoot them all. But my father, sister, uncle and brother managed to escape."

Hazan stares out of a nearby window then out of the blue apologises for not having had a shave.

"I'm sorry I have just driven my friend's truck down from Auckland this morning, I did not have time."

Obviously those are memories he would rather not relive, and who can blame him.

The massacre he witnessed was committed by Iraqi troops under orders from Saddam Hussein in 1983.

Just seven years later Hazan was conscripted into the very same army, serving on the front line during the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

Why? Omar Hazan's family are Kurds.

The number of Kurds in the Middle East varies. Some estimate them to number about 30 million, others up to 60 million, nonetheless, the Kurds are the largest national group without a nation state.

Politically, Iraqi Kurdistan is the only region which has gained official international recognition as an autonomous federal entity.

But anti-Kurdish policies of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and the Turkish military saw some 5000 villages in Kurdistan "depopulated" since 1980. Only in Iranian Kurdistan has traditional village life remained intact.

One of Saddam Hussein's trusted generals, Ali Hassan Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti, known to the West as "Chemical Ali", was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court for using chemical weapons in genocide attacks against Kurdish villages throughout Iraq in the 1980s and 1990s.

Born in 1966 in a small village 5km from Karkuk in northern Iraq, Hazan remembers being forced out of his village in 1974.

"It was a small place, about 250 houses and we were all a big family.

"We had a farm and my father owned the only tractor in the village so we were always very busy. In 1974 we were made to move away.

"We sold everything, but two years later we came back. Many people were missing, some were shot, some hung in jail, some just disappeared. Our village was destroyed but we started again."

Even during his time in the Iraqi Army he could trust no-one, being a Kurd was like being an outcast.

"A man from my unit threw a grenade into my hut one day but I was too quick for him and escaped.

"I ran into the mountains and walked for days into Iran."

After that Hazan tried to escape into Russia but was caught by Iranian boarder guards and thrown into prison. Once released he tried escaping through Syria and into Israel. Again he was captured by Syrian guards and was held captive and tortured before being released.

He then paid a man to take him by boat from Syria into Greece but he was duped and taken back to a port in southern Syria.

Eventually Hazan ended up in a Kurdish refugee camp in Syria. He spent four years there waiting for his chance to leave. He put his name on a United Nations refugee list and asked to be sent to New Zealand.

"I just wanted to go as far away from my old life as I could. I had to leave. I ran away from the army and I am a Kurd.

"People would spit at you on the bus, burn cigarettes on my clothes. I was told I was evil by the Muslims in Iraq. I said, enough."

Today Hazan is a happy man, he says he lives a quiet life in New Zealand. A life where he is not racially abused, spat at or tortured.

"When I was in a refugee camp in Mangere a policeman said hello to me. I tried to run and hide. In Iraq if a policeman spoke to you you were in trouble, If you said hello to a policeman in Iraq they would hit you. I was scared, but he was just being nice."

He says the only time he has been told to "go back to where he came from" was by a Samoan woman.

"I laughed at her and told her I would leave tomorrow," he beams. "I did not want to make her angry."

He said New Zealanders have been very good to him, his only real problem was learning English.

Hazan says he still dreams about his old life and finds it difficult to stay in one place for a period of time. His eight years living in Rotorua has been the longest he has lived anywhere.

"I am always moving around, always busy.

"That's why I drive, I always feel like I need to keep moving."

The Kurdish military forces, known as peshmerga, played a key role in the overthrow of the former Iraqi government.

Hazan is proud his countrymen fought for their freedom but says he will not go back to his homeland.

"I miss my home, my father and my family, but I cannot go back. There is still to much hurt for me there, too much pain."

His family are pleased he is now living in New Zealand, that he is a father and has a happy life. Hazan says he speaks to them as much as he can by telephone.

"After Saddam their lives are much safer, they have a house in our old village and are protected by the Americans."

Hazan now has a partner, she is a New Zealander, and four children. For now he calls Rotorua home.

Hazan refuses to take handouts, he says if people respect their country they will work hard and earn their pay.

He will tell you that life is New Zealand is easy and that people here have no reason to blame the government for their problems.

Maybe some New Zealanders need to take a leaf from his book.

"I have never had a problem getting work either, there is always a job if you look for them."

I sat enthralled by Hazan's story for almost two hours, that in itself was an experience.

When we were done Hazan jumped up, "I have to drive to Hamilton."

"I told you I have to keep moving."

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees currently defines about 9.2 million people worldwide as refugees, with around another 10 million who are "of concern".

Omar Hazan is one of 750 refugees accepted into New Zealand each year.