Far from Iraq by Delizia Flaccavento (February 13, 2010) 
(5 votes, average: 3.60 out of 5)
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Categories / Documentary Portraiture / Documentary Reportage / / Click here to open comments section, click again when done to close / Comments Off
About Delizia Flaccavento
Delizia Flaccavento is a documentary photographer who focuses mainly on social issues and ethnic minorities. Born in Sicily in 1973, she completed the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) Press Photography Certificate in the United Kingdom and earned a MA degree from the Ohio University School of Visual Communication in the United States. She is currently based in Istanbul.
Artist statement: I deeply believe in the power of documentary photography to promote tolerance and understanding and to bridge the gaps created by ignorance and indifference. Through my photos, I try to stimulate critical thinking and to convey sympathy and empathy towards my subjects.
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Our poll "A photo essay always needs a great written story" closed. 267 people voted, 28% agrees, 72% disagrees. 233 people answered our follow-up question "Are you a photographer?" 82% indicated they are, 18% said no. Initially, negative answers to question #1 were almost 100% as was the pecentage of photographers among respondants. Then, when the level of non-photographers started to rise, the percentage of people indicating good text is always essential started to rise too. This seems to indicate that non-photographers think that adding good text to your photo essays is essential. In my opinion: if you want non-photographers to dig your work, you know what to do...
One of the most tragic consequences of the war in Iraq is the mass exodus of Iraqis, which began in 2003 and has continued to the present. According to some estimates, two million Iraqis have fled the country and two million are internally displaced, having moved from the most dangerous areas, such as Baghdad, to the relatively safer North of the country.
Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis are stranded in Syria, Jordan and Turkey waiting to receive asylum in Western countries running programs for refugees - mainly the United States, Australia and Canada.
The number of Iraqi refugees in Turkey is small if compared to Syria and Jordan. Nonetheless, more than twenty thousand Iraqi's fled to Turkey, most of them are staying in Istanbul. Iraqis go to Turkey because it is easy to enter the country and because asylum applications are processed faster than in Syria or Jordan.
Turkey doesn’t accept non-European refugees. For this reason, asylum applications are examined and handled by the UNHCR. The waiting time varies from a few months to a few years. The nerve-wrecking wait is made harder by the lack of work permits allowed and, for the young generations, by the impossibility, due to language barrier and other bureaucratic problems, to attend school.
The United States, Australia and Canada are the Western countries accepting the highest number of Iraqi refugees, but it is just a few thousand every year, out of hundreds of thousands of applicants.
Delizia Flaccavento (1973) lives and works in Istanbul, Turkey.
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