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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The prime minister of the Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani received a phone call from his Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki on Thursday, in which the leaders discussed the condition of Kurdish migrants on the Belarus-Poland border, according to statements from both sides.
Barzani “expressed his serious concern about the safety and wellbeing of citizens from the Kurdistan Region caught up in this situation, including children,” read a statement from his office, adding that the prime ministers “discussed ways to address the situation.”
“They agreed that migrants have been deceived by organised traffickers. Both leaders described the migrants as victims of organised crime,” Barzani’s statement continued, saying that Morawiecki welcomed the measures taken by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) against “criminal networks”, as well as “tougher” restrictions at airports.
Thousands of people have arrived in Belarus in recent months with the hope of reaching Europe to establish better lives. However, most of them have been stuck on Belarus borders with Poland and Lithuania. Their dire conditions have been a topic of increasing interest and concern in international media.
Jotiar Adil, spokesperson for the KRG, said on Thursday that they have established a high committee to deal with smugglers, and that the body has so far “arrested over ten people.” The KRG has also suspended flights to Minsk.
The Iraqi government began registering people who want to return home last week. On Thursday, 431 migrants arrived at Erbil International Airport in a flight organized by the Iraqi government and the KRG.
Adil told reporters that 95 percent of the returnees are from the Kurdistan Region. Others from Iraq were taken by the same plane to Baghdad.
Barzani welcomed the “safe return” of the migrants, saying, “their stories will inform our efforts to ensure this [situation] doesn’t happen again.” He also said that the voluntary return flights from Minsk will continue.
In his phone call with the Polish PM, Barzani called on Belarus and the European Union “to abide by their international obligations and in particular to facilitate immediate humanitarian access by the International Committee of the Red Cross,” according to the statement from his office.
Morawiecki said in a statement that he discussed the migrants issue with both Barzani and Iraqi PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi.
He told Barzani and Kadhimi that Minsk is using their people to “threaten the security of Poland and the EU,” in the nature of a hybrid war, and that “Citizens of Iraq, including those from Kurdistan, are being used for this war.”
Many Kurdish migrants are young people, 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.
Barzani acknowledged on Tuesday that the Kurdistan Region has had economic difficulties, brought about by low oil prices, the pandemic, and budget disputes with Baghdad, but that his cabinet has made progress with reforms and created over 100,000 jobs.
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