Screengrap from an aerial footage of Qaladze town in Sulaimani province’s Pishdar district on July 6, 2025. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A growing number of young people from Sulaimani’s Pishdar district are leaving the Kurdistan Region and embarking on dangerous smuggling routes to Europe, driven by unemployment and deepening economic despair, according to local officials and civil society groups.
Pshdar district mayor Abubakr Bayiz estimates nearly 300 people have left the district since Tuesday alone.
“What is being talked about in the media is real. Migration will intensify if the situation doesn’t improve,” he told Rudaw on Sunday.
Tens of thousands of people from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region attempt to flee each year, seeking to escape unemployment, corruption, and political instability by joining the waves of migrants crossing to Europe - often via Turkey and the Aegean Sea. Many have died making the journey.
Danyal Salim, a 22-year-old senior student from Qaladze, is preparing to leave in the coming days along with five friends. He said he could no longer afford to continue his studies.
“Isn’t it a shame to lose my life along the way, to drown in the Aegean Sea? By God, if I had a choice, I wouldn’t go,” Salim lamented. “I will either die or reach my destination.”
Qaladze, despite its agricultural potential with orchards, farms, and fish ponds, continues to struggle with high youth unemployment.
“This is not migration; this is an exodus,” said Ahmad Hassan, head of the Raparin Youth Organization, which works on youth development and migration issues. “In just one night, 70 young people left Qaladze, most of them under the age of 18 - 17, 16, even 15 years old. This poses a serious threat to the area.”
Pishdar district, centered on Qaladze town, lies in eastern Kurdistan Region under the Raparin administration and has a population of around 160,000.
Abubakir Ismael contributed to this report.
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