Kosovo girl pleads to stay in Austria

A girl who threatened to kill herself unless her family was reunited in Austria pleaded Friday for their return. 15-year-old Arigona Zogaj made her first public appearance since going into hiding about two weeks ago for fear that she and her mother would also be forced to return to Kosovo after her father and four siblings had been deported. Kosovo girl pleads to stay in Austria The girl was assured by authorities that she and her mother would not face immediate deportation, though their cases have not been decided. "We were always together," Arigona tearfully told reporters in the Upper Austrian village of Ungenach, where she had been hiding in the care of a Catholic priest. She stayed with various friends before being put in touch with Friedl for sanctuary. "Now I'm spending days on the phone with my friends, reading newspapers and watching TV," said Arigona, flashing a smile in the priest's office in the central village of Ungenach. She said she was keen to return to school and study to be a hair stylist. But most of all she wanted her father and four siblings back from a Kosovo she said seemed foreign. "I speak only a little Albanian, I don't know anyone in Kosovo any more," she said in fluent German. "I lived through the war there and I just had nightmares about it again," she said, referring to the 1998-99 Kosovo war. Arigona had woken up screaming overnight, elderly pastor Josef Friedl said. The Zogaj case has stirred anti-government demonstrations and a fiery debate about deporting well-integrated foreigners who seek asylum and often try to stay on illegally when their applications are rejected. Similar debates have arisen in other European countries, where conflicts about immigration are often tied to questions of national identity and humanitarianism. Arigona's father came to Austria in 2001; his wife and children joined him the following year. The family lived in Frankenburg, Upper Austria. The mother was allowed to stay in Austria when Arigona disappeared and, according to media reports, was hospitalized with a nervous breakdown. Arigona said she had already talked to her mother by telephone and that she had left the hospital on Wednesday. She told a news conference that she was ready to talk to Interior Minister Guenther Platter "if that helps me," the Austria Press Agency reported. Platter, a conservative member of the government coalition, has been severely criticized about his handling of the Zogaj case. He maintains that while Austria provides asylum to foreigners who are truly in need of protection, it must say no when there is no adequate proof of persecution. "I felt bad and was afraid the whole time," Arigona said of her time spent moving from house to house, first in Upper Austria and then Vienna before she was picked up Sunday by the priest, Josef Friedl. Arigona had threatened to commit suicide in letter to authorities published by the media and later in a video that surfaced last week. The Zogaj case and other recent Austrian deportations have called attention to the fact that it often takes years for asylum applications to be processed. At the end of August, decisions related to 33,943 cases were outstanding, Interior Ministry statistics show.

Kosovo girl pleads to stay in Austria

The girl was assured by authorities that she and her mother would not face immediate deportation, though their cases have not been decided.

"We were always together," Arigona tearfully told reporters in the Upper Austrian village of Ungenach, where she had been hiding in the care of a Catholic priest.

She stayed with various friends before being put in touch with Friedl for sanctuary.

"Now I'm spending days on the phone with my friends, reading newspapers and watching TV," said Arigona, flashing a smile in the priest's office in the central village of Ungenach.

She said she was keen to return to school and study to be a hair stylist. But most of all she wanted her father and four siblings back from a Kosovo she said seemed foreign.

"I speak only a little Albanian, I don't know anyone in Kosovo any more," she said in fluent German.

"I lived through the war there and I just had nightmares about it again," she said, referring to the 1998-99 Kosovo war. Arigona had woken up screaming overnight, elderly pastor Josef Friedl said.

The Zogaj case has stirred anti-government demonstrations and a fiery debate about deporting well-integrated foreigners who seek asylum and often try to stay on illegally when their applications are rejected.

Similar debates have arisen in other European countries, where conflicts about immigration are often tied to questions of national identity and humanitarianism.

Arigona's father came to Austria in 2001; his wife and children joined him the following year. The family lived in Frankenburg, Upper Austria. The mother was allowed to stay in Austria when Arigona disappeared and, according to media reports, was hospitalized with a nervous breakdown.

Arigona said she had already talked to her mother by telephone and that she had left the hospital on Wednesday.

She told a news conference that she was ready to talk to Interior Minister Guenther Platter "if that helps me," the Austria Press Agency reported.

Platter, a conservative member of the government coalition, has been severely criticized about his handling of the Zogaj case. He maintains that while Austria provides asylum to foreigners who are truly in need of protection, it must say no when there is no adequate proof of persecution.

"I felt bad and was afraid the whole time," Arigona said of her time spent moving from house to house, first in Upper Austria and then Vienna before she was picked up Sunday by the priest, Josef Friedl.

Arigona had threatened to commit suicide in letter to authorities published by the media and later in a video that surfaced last week.

The Zogaj case and other recent Austrian deportations have called attention to the fact that it often takes years for asylum applications to be processed. At the end of August, decisions related to 33,943 cases were outstanding, Interior Ministry statistics show.