by Sirwa Ahmed
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Turkish authorities have arrested six smugglers in connection with the death of three women from the Kurdistan Region who drowned when their boat capsized in the Aegean Sea, but their bodies remain in Turkey after more than a week.
“A boat carrying 21 immigrants from the Kurdistan Region sank in the Aegean Sea. Eighteen of them were rescued and are currently being held by Turkish security forces. Two sisters from Darbandikhan and another woman from Sulaimani drowned. Turkish police are keeping their bodies,” said Kurda Yashar, a representative of the Federation of Iraqi Refugees in Turkey.
The two sisters were from the town of Darbandikhan in the Kurdistan Region. Hawnaz Tariq, 23, and Arazu Tariq, 26, both drowned in the sea. Turkey's coast guard rescued 18 immigrants, mostly women and children. One immigrant remains missing after their boat capsized on September 17.
Turkish police have arrested six smugglers in connection with this incident, Yashar said.
He added they have contacted the Iraqi consulate in Istanbul for help in repatriating the bodies of the three women, but the consulate had not responded to their call.
Hawnaz Tariq and Arazu Tariq were trying to make it Greece, where their father was trying to reach Europe for medical treatment.
Tariq Abdulqadir was injured in the ISIS fight and eventually lost his eyesight. Abdulqadir heard he could be cured abroad.
Officials in the Kurdistan Region did not send him abroad for the needed specialized treatment, so he sold some farmland and aimed to make it to Germany.
“He stayed in Turkey for nearly two months, and then crossed to Greece the Aegean Sea to Greece. His boat was stuck off the Greek coast, but fortunately made it to Greece. He was put in a camp and his fingerprints were taken from there, and therefore couldn’t reach Germany," a person close to his family said.
Greek doctors had promised to treat him there, which is why Tariq decided to stay there and eventually obtained a residence permit.
Tariq had seven children: six daughters and one son. Greece permitted his wife and children below 18 to come.
"That is why only his wife, a daughter and son could officially go to Greece. His other five daughters therefore decided to go to Greece illegally,” the source said.
Arazu was a 12th grader in high school. Hawnaz was a graduate of an agriculture college.
“The representation of the federation of refugees will visit relevant parties in Bodrum to seek help in repatriating the bodies to Kurdistan,” said Ari Jalal, the general supervisor of the federation.
Additionally two children remain hospitalized in Turkey.
“Health conditions of two children involved in the incident were bad. They were therefore taken to the hospital. But their health is improving,” Jalal said.
According to figures from the refugee federation, 550,000 people have emigrated from Iraq to Europe and the United States after the emergence of ISIS. During the past 10 years, 278 immigrants died and 133 are missing.
