About 30 Kurdish asylum seekers submitted a letter of inquiry Monday to Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama, demanding an explanation over the ministry's rejection of all refugee applications by Kurds.

Nearly 400 Kurds, mainly from Turkey, have applied for refugee status in Japan since 1996, but not one has been granted this status, group members said.

Most still live in Japan and work without legitimate residency status, they said.

In their letter, the Kurds also asked the ministry to disclose records of interviews conducted with Kurdish asylum seekers.

They complained about the condescending attitude exhibited by immigration officials during interviews and asked the ministry to provide asylum seekers with medical services.

The group said that since the Turkish government started persecuting Kurdish residents in response to emerging moves to claim greater autonomy in the 1980s, between 500 and 600 Kurds have fled to Japan.

Around 20 have filed civil suits to get the government to withdraw earlier rejections of their refugee applications.

About eight Kurds are currently being detained at immigration centers, they said.

A 27-year-old participant whose asylum application was rejected in 1998 said he left Turkey to avoid conscription, as the Turkish military usually sends Kurdish soldiers to suppress ethnic Kurdish moves toward autonomy.

He said this should make him eligible for political refugee status.

"The current war on Iraq may further strengthen Kurdish ethnic movements, possibly resulting in further persecution of Kurds in Turkey, Iran and other countries with domestic Kurdish populations," he said.

"We ask the Japanese government to become more tolerant in its refugee policy and to offer us more help."