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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) has taken the world by storm, quickly becoming a favorite gaming pastime among young Kurds. However, the Region’s top competitive players – known as ‘Kurd Squad’ – could miss out on a major upcoming tournament in Germany after their visa applications were delayed.
Kurd Squad had requested urgent interviews at the German consulate in Erbil to secure their visas to compete in the PUBG Mobile Club Open (PMCO) tournament in Berlin on July 26.
However, the German consulate said the reason for their trip did not meet the requirements for its urgent visa interview procedure.
Kurd Squad, a Kurdish clan of more than 1,000 PUBG Mobile players established in March 2018, broke the news of its visa delay on its Facebook page on Tuesday.
The group said it has asked the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to intervene.
PMCO is a multi-staged, international completion with a pool prize of $2 million. Kurd Squad came second among 16 teams in the Middle East regional finals earlier this month, thereby qualifying for the preliminaries.
Teams who pass the preliminaries on July 26 will go on to play in the finals on July 27-28.
Ari Khalel, 24, is a top tier Kurd Squad player and an avid gamer who has a big following among Kurds who watch him stream online.
“Surely I have been playing since childhood, but as far as me becoming popular, it has been four years,” Khalel, an IT student who graduated from Erbil’s Ishik University on Wednesday, told Rudaw English.
“I have been playing since the day [PUBG Mobile] was released.”
Khalel and his four teammates have tickets booked on a July 17 flight to Berlin, paid for by the tournament organizers. But without a visa from the German consulate, they will not be allowed to travel.
According to an email from the consulate, seen by Rudaw, Kurd Squad’s requests for urgent visa interviews failed to meet official requirements. The delay could cost them their place in the preliminaries.
Khalel said officials and supporters in the Kurdistan Region have already appealed to the consulate to reverse their decision and grant them urgent interviews. Even the PMCO tournament organizers plan to intervene, he said.
“If [KRG] officials can’t do it, who else would be able to?” Khalel asked.
“I will stop playing PUBG altogether if we are not able to go to this tournament after four months of hard work.”
In April, the Iraqi parliament even voted for a ban on all video games that “threaten social, moral, and educational security”.
Last year, PUBG's developers announced they had 400 million players worldwide.
Rudaw English has contacted the German consulate in Erbil for comment on its urgent visa interview procedure, but is yet to receive a reply.
Strict visa policies in western countries frequently prevent Kurds from studying abroad and from attending events.
Jubrail Abubakir, a filmmaker from the Kurdistan Region, was recently denied a US visa to compete in three separate film festivals for ‘Ailan’, a film named after the 3-year-old Syrian refugee who drowned off the coast of Turkey in 2015.
Kurd Squad had requested urgent interviews at the German consulate in Erbil to secure their visas to compete in the PUBG Mobile Club Open (PMCO) tournament in Berlin on July 26.
However, the German consulate said the reason for their trip did not meet the requirements for its urgent visa interview procedure.
Kurd Squad, a Kurdish clan of more than 1,000 PUBG Mobile players established in March 2018, broke the news of its visa delay on its Facebook page on Tuesday.
The group said it has asked the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to intervene.
PMCO is a multi-staged, international completion with a pool prize of $2 million. Kurd Squad came second among 16 teams in the Middle East regional finals earlier this month, thereby qualifying for the preliminaries.
Teams who pass the preliminaries on July 26 will go on to play in the finals on July 27-28.
Ari Khalel, 24, is a top tier Kurd Squad player and an avid gamer who has a big following among Kurds who watch him stream online.
“Surely I have been playing since childhood, but as far as me becoming popular, it has been four years,” Khalel, an IT student who graduated from Erbil’s Ishik University on Wednesday, told Rudaw English.
“I have been playing since the day [PUBG Mobile] was released.”
Ari Khalel, 24, has a big online following in the Kurdistan Region streaming PUBG game play. Photo: Ari Khalel
Khalel and his four teammates have tickets booked on a July 17 flight to Berlin, paid for by the tournament organizers. But without a visa from the German consulate, they will not be allowed to travel.
According to an email from the consulate, seen by Rudaw, Kurd Squad’s requests for urgent visa interviews failed to meet official requirements. The delay could cost them their place in the preliminaries.
Khalel said officials and supporters in the Kurdistan Region have already appealed to the consulate to reverse their decision and grant them urgent interviews. Even the PMCO tournament organizers plan to intervene, he said.
“If [KRG] officials can’t do it, who else would be able to?” Khalel asked.
“I will stop playing PUBG altogether if we are not able to go to this tournament after four months of hard work.”
In October 2018, the Islamic religious authority in Sulaimani issued a fatwa against PUBG, claiming it wastes young people's time.
In April, the Iraqi parliament even voted for a ban on all video games that “threaten social, moral, and educational security”.
Last year, PUBG's developers announced they had 400 million players worldwide.
Strict visa policies in western countries frequently prevent Kurds from studying abroad and from attending events.
Jubrail Abubakir, a filmmaker from the Kurdistan Region, was recently denied a US visa to compete in three separate film festivals for ‘Ailan’, a film named after the 3-year-old Syrian refugee who drowned off the coast of Turkey in 2015.
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