150 Kurds en route to Europe captured, deported to Syria plead for help from KRG
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A large number of Kurds en route to Europe were captured on the Romanian-Turkish border and were forcefully deported to Syria, one of the deported persons told Rudaw, pleading for help from the Kurdistan Region authorities to help return them to the Region.
An estimated 150 Kurds who had identified themselves as Syrian as advised to do so by their smugglers were captured on the Romanian borders while trying to migrate to Europe, but ended up captured and deported to Syria. They say they live in a terrible condition and are now asking the Kurdistan Region authorities to return them to the Region.
Hamza Ali from the town of Darbandikhan, Sulaimani, is among those deported that have been trapped in Syria told Rudaw “they have tortured us a lot and forcefully deported us to Syria.”
He said they were sheltered in Idlib city at a terminal station.
He added “we are living in a terrible conditions and there are children and women among us.”
He recounted they were initially deceived by the smugglers and “when we were captured on Turkey-Romania border, we were told to describe ourselves as Syrian so that we would not be deported and we did so, but we ended up deported to Syria.”
Since 2014, thousands of Kurds have left for Europe, many of whom did not make it. And some of them ended drowning in Turkey’s Aegean Sea.
Ari Jalal head of Refugees Federation in the Kurdistan Region earlier told Rudaw English that since 2015, 220,000 refugees have left Iraq, of whom 45,000 were from the Kurdistan Region.
An estimated 150 Kurds who had identified themselves as Syrian as advised to do so by their smugglers were captured on the Romanian borders while trying to migrate to Europe, but ended up captured and deported to Syria. They say they live in a terrible condition and are now asking the Kurdistan Region authorities to return them to the Region.
Hamza Ali from the town of Darbandikhan, Sulaimani, is among those deported that have been trapped in Syria told Rudaw “they have tortured us a lot and forcefully deported us to Syria.”
“We are calling on the Kurdistan Regional Government... to reach out to us and rescue us from this situation,” Ali pleaded.
He said they were sheltered in Idlib city at a terminal station.
He added “we are living in a terrible conditions and there are children and women among us.”
He recounted they were initially deceived by the smugglers and “when we were captured on Turkey-Romania border, we were told to describe ourselves as Syrian so that we would not be deported and we did so, but we ended up deported to Syria.”
Since 2014, thousands of Kurds have left for Europe, many of whom did not make it. And some of them ended drowning in Turkey’s Aegean Sea.
Ari Jalal head of Refugees Federation in the Kurdistan Region earlier told Rudaw English that since 2015, 220,000 refugees have left Iraq, of whom 45,000 were from the Kurdistan Region.