French Officials Study Kurds’ Asylum Requests

The government will evaluate asylum requests on a case-by-case basis before deciding what to do with 910 Iraqi Kurds who entered France on a rusty freighter with the help of immigrant smugglers, officials said Monday.

Prime Minister Lionel Jospin said that the refugees should be given a humanitarian welcome--but that the French response should discourage immigrant trafficking.

“We must treat this . . . in a way such as to not give a bonus to the criminal enterprises that traffic in men and women,” Jospin said in Paris, his first public remarks since the boat ran aground on the Mediterranean shore early Saturday.

About 40 officials were studying the refugees’ cases, and a magistrate is expected to hear testimony Wednesday before deciding whether they can remain temporarily in France.

French border police said Sunday that criminal gangs operating in Turkey and Iraq were responsible for transporting the Kurds to France on a rusty freighter that was deliberately run aground after a weeklong voyage.

“It’s really sad, it’s really tragic, it’s a new kind of slavery that’s emerging, and we should all do our best to prevent it,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem said Monday during a visit to Portugal.

Since their arrival, the refugees have been housed at a military camp in Frejus, near Cannes.

On Monday, about 100 women and children among the refugees held a 20-minute demonstration to protest their housing conditions. It ended calmly after French military police asked them to disperse.

French Red Cross officials said better accommodations were being sought for the refugees, who are staying in a chilly military building that was once a bread factory.