Taida Pasic
Encyclopedia
Taida Pasić is a Kosovo-born woman who became famous as a result of the circumstances arising from her application for temporary stay in the Netherlands
.
Pasić was born in Pristina, the capital of the Yugoslav
province of Kosovo
(in present-day Kosovo
). As a result of the Kosovo War
, her family fled Kosovo in 1999 to the Netherlands, where she spent the remainder of her childhood and became fluent in Dutch
. Her family's applications for refugee status were repeatedly rejected, and in 2005 her family accepted a one-time payment to be resettled in Kosovo. She returned to the Netherlands in January 2006 on a French tourist visa, intending to complete her final months of high school.
Pasić was arrested by immigration police while at school in March 2006, and the ensuing political controversy about her alien detention and the actions taken by Dutch integration minister Rita Verdonk
became a major issue in Dutch politics, leading indirectly to the resignation and temporary loss of citizenship of Ayaan Hirsi Ali
and the fall of the second Balkenende cabinet
. In her memoir, Infidel, Hirsi Ali claims to have privately urged Pasić's case and to have told Verdonk that she herself had lied on her asylum application - something that Verdonk denies.
On 28 April 2006, Pasić left the Netherlands for Bosnia
, and took her exams in the Dutch embassy in Sarajevo
. Since August 2006, she has been a student at the University of Leiden.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
Pasić was born in Pristina, the capital of the Yugoslav
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
province of Kosovo
Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo
Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo was one of the two socialist autonomous areas of the Socialist Republic of Serbia incorporated into the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1974 until 1990...
(in present-day Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
). As a result of the Kosovo War
Kosovo War
The term Kosovo War or Kosovo conflict was two sequential, and at times parallel, armed conflicts in Kosovo province, then part of FR Yugoslav Republic of Serbia; from early 1998 to 1999, there was an armed conflict initiated by the ethnic Albanian "Kosovo Liberation Army" , who sought independence...
, her family fled Kosovo in 1999 to the Netherlands, where she spent the remainder of her childhood and became fluent in Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
. Her family's applications for refugee status were repeatedly rejected, and in 2005 her family accepted a one-time payment to be resettled in Kosovo. She returned to the Netherlands in January 2006 on a French tourist visa, intending to complete her final months of high school.
Pasić was arrested by immigration police while at school in March 2006, and the ensuing political controversy about her alien detention and the actions taken by Dutch integration minister Rita Verdonk
Rita Verdonk
Maria Cornelia Frederika "Rita" Verdonk is a retired Dutch politician initially of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy until she was expelled in October 2007, she later formed her own party Proud of the Netherlands . She served as Minister for Integration and Immigration in Cabinets...
became a major issue in Dutch politics, leading indirectly to the resignation and temporary loss of citizenship of Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Magan Ali is a Somali-Dutch feminist and atheist activist, writer, politician who strongly opposes circumcision and female genital cutting. She is the daughter of the Somali politician and opposition leader Hirsi Magan Isse and is a founder of the women's rights organisation the AHA...
and the fall of the second Balkenende cabinet
Second Balkenende cabinet
The second cabinet of Jan Peter Balkenende of the Netherlands formed on 27 May 2003. It consisted of three political parties: People's Party for Freedom and Democracy , Christian Democratic Appeal , and Democrats 66 , which is the smallest of the three.On 29 June 2006, D66 dropped its support for...
. In her memoir, Infidel, Hirsi Ali claims to have privately urged Pasić's case and to have told Verdonk that she herself had lied on her asylum application - something that Verdonk denies.
On 28 April 2006, Pasić left the Netherlands for Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
, and took her exams in the Dutch embassy in Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
. Since August 2006, she has been a student at the University of Leiden.