Manaf Ibrahim, 32, is from Duhok province's Shiladze town. He left the Kurdistan Region for Turkey on September 29 with four other relatives, beginning a journey that cost him his life.
"Manaf was already suffering from some pre-existing health conditions. There were five when they left Kurdistan for Turkey. Two days before he froze to death, two of his friends were arrested by Turkish police. The other three remained together. Manaf died on the 12th. The other friend and the cousin are coming back with the body today," Jegir Shawkat, a cousin of the deceased, told Rudaw on Thursday.
The two who were arrested “are in jail in the city of Edirne," near Greece's border, Shawka added.
Manaf's elderly father and mother are desperate to see the body of their son repatriated.
"My only request is to bring back Manaf to me," cried his mother, Ramziya Haider, surrounded by female relatives and friends in her home in Shiladze. "Bring him back to his mother. We do not have any other request."
Manaf’s father said his son checked in regularly as he traveled through Turkey. They last heard from him three days before he died.
"He called his brother saying they had reached a city. He said if they left it, they will reach their next destination. Right after that, we were disconnected from him," his father Ibrahim Hafzulla told Rudaw.
Manaf was a university graduate. Before leaving the Kurdistan Region, he told his family he wanted to migrate to Europe because he could not find work.
"Seven years ago, he graduated from an institute. He was unemployed. He had no jobs here," his cousin Shawkat said. "He had been constantly saying for a year now that he wanted to leave."
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Aland Organization for Democratization of Youth describes Shiladze as "the epicenter of the migration of youth in Duhok province." Headquartered in Duhok, Aland has been working since 2004 to raise awareness about investing in the potential of the youth.
"The majority of those who left the Kurdistan Region in recent years are people who have a good education. They feel hopeless. They see no future and no hope to get a job," said Sherzad Pir Musa, the head of Aland.
"In 2014 and 2015, large numbers of people left due to the economic crisis and the coming of Daesh [Islamic State]. There was relative calm in 2017, 2018, and 2019 due to the end of Daesh and a slight improvement in the economic situation. This year, we are once again witnessing an increase in youth migrating due to the coronavirus, which has brought back the economic crisis," he added.
"I am urging the government to stop the migration. The government must invest in their potential," he said.
Since 2014, hundreds of Kurds have died trying to migrate to Europe, many of them drowning in the Aegean Sea. In 2017, two Kurdish men froze to death when they were caught in snowy weather traveling from Turkey to Bulgaria.
Additional reporting by Ayub Nasri
