German official thanks PM Barzani for returning migrants

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An official from the German foreign office told Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani during a security forum in Bahrain on Saturday that they are “grateful” for recent measures taken by Erbil to repatriate their citizens from the Poland-Belarus border.

“Grateful for quick reaction of Iraq and KRG [Kurdistan Regional Government] to halt flights and facilitate returns of migrants from Belarus who fell for cruel ploy of Lukashenko,” State Secretary of the Federal Foreign Office Miguel Berger said in a tweet, referring to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Barzani and Berger met at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Manama Dialogue for Middle East security in Bahrain.

“We are very grateful for what you have done, with the measures you and your government have taken. This is an extremely serious issue for us because Belarus is really using migrants as a weapon,” Berger told the Kurdish prime minister.

Barzani, who is leading a KRG delegation to the forum, said his government has taken some measures and will do more.

"We stressed support for the voluntary return of migrants caught up on the Belarus-Poland border and the need to act swiftly to disrupt trafficking networks exploiting citizens," Barzani said in a tweet.

Thousands of people, many of them Iraqi Kurds but also including citizens of Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan, have traveled to Belarus in recent months with the hope of reaching western Europe where they dream of better lives with more opportunities. However, most of them have gotten stuck on Belarus’ borders with Poland and Lithuania who have fortified their frontiers against the migrants. The dire condition of thousands of people, young and old in the cold with little food and water, has grabbed international headlines and mobilized Europe to cut off the migration route.

The Iraqi government and the KRG have begun registering the names of those who want to voluntarily return home. Over 400 people returned on Thursday, 95 percent of them were from the Kurdistan Region.

Erbil and Baghdad have suspended the work of Belarusian diplomatic missions in the country and flights to Minsk. Both governments have also arrested several smugglers.

Many of the Kurdish migrants are young, leaving the country in search of jobs and opportunities they feel they cannot access at home where unemployment is high and political tensions and instability leave them with little hope for their future. KRG officials have acknowledged the financial hardships, but say they are working to resolve the problem, including creating over 100,000 jobs in the last two years.

German official thanks PM Barzani for returning migrants

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