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Kurdistan
Migrants in a camp on the Belarusian-Polish border in the Grodno region. Date: November 11, 2021. Photo: AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) spokesperson said Thursday that nearly 8,000 residents of the Region are stuck on the Belarusian-Polish borders, blaming Minsk for using them as a trump card against Europe.
“Between 16,000 to 17,000 people are stuck on these borders, and of these between 7,500 to 8,000 are from the Kurdistan Region,” Jotiar Adil told Rudaw’s Sangar Abdulrahman.
“Unfortunately, Belarus is well prepared to use these people as a political trump card against the European Union. The people of Kurdistan should know well that the issue of migration to this area will have no consequence as it is merely for making political pressure,” he added.
Thousands of migrants, mostly from the Middle East and Iraq in particular, have tried to cross into European Union nations from Belarus since early last summer. The EU has accused Belarus of orchestrating the influx of migrants to punish it for imposing sanctions against the country.
Dramatic footage of Kurdish migrants stuck on the borders of Poland and Belarus has circulated on social media, with some blaming the quality of life in the Kurdistan Region.
Adil said the government is working on improving living conditions in the Region and providing humanitarian aid to those stuck on the border.
Most of the Kurdish migrants are from areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad where a security gap has given the Islamic State (ISIS) a chance to regroup and carry out attacks and Duhok province where Turkey’s armed conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has caused displacement, according to the KRG spokesperson, who added that another reason is unemployment in the Kurdistan Region.
Since October 2020, the EU has imposed progressively restrictive measures against Minsk that were adopted in response to concerns over the 2020 presidential elections, and the intimidation and violent repression of peaceful protesters, opposition members, and journalists.
Belarus’ neighbours have fortified their borders against the migrants, leaving thousands desperate in a country they had thought would be an easy gateway to western Europe.
Dominik Musial, consul general of Poland in Erbil, told Rudaw on Wednesday that the immigrants trying to enter Poland “have been equipped and prepared to forcibly cross the border.”
"We're evidently dealing with a group of people who are trying to forcibly, force enter into our country," he said.
Media coverage is portraying the people at the border as "the sole victims of the situation," he added. "I understand they are. They are. But we also need to look at them from a different viewpoint: they are also intruders."
Belarus' Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei said on Wednesday that European countries have deployed 15,000 troops “against crying women and children to prevent them from getting into Europe... I cannot comprehend it. This is a violation of all possible norms.”
“Between 16,000 to 17,000 people are stuck on these borders, and of these between 7,500 to 8,000 are from the Kurdistan Region,” Jotiar Adil told Rudaw’s Sangar Abdulrahman.
“Unfortunately, Belarus is well prepared to use these people as a political trump card against the European Union. The people of Kurdistan should know well that the issue of migration to this area will have no consequence as it is merely for making political pressure,” he added.
Thousands of migrants, mostly from the Middle East and Iraq in particular, have tried to cross into European Union nations from Belarus since early last summer. The EU has accused Belarus of orchestrating the influx of migrants to punish it for imposing sanctions against the country.
Dramatic footage of Kurdish migrants stuck on the borders of Poland and Belarus has circulated on social media, with some blaming the quality of life in the Kurdistan Region.
Adil said the government is working on improving living conditions in the Region and providing humanitarian aid to those stuck on the border.
Most of the Kurdish migrants are from areas disputed between Erbil and Baghdad where a security gap has given the Islamic State (ISIS) a chance to regroup and carry out attacks and Duhok province where Turkey’s armed conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has caused displacement, according to the KRG spokesperson, who added that another reason is unemployment in the Kurdistan Region.
Since October 2020, the EU has imposed progressively restrictive measures against Minsk that were adopted in response to concerns over the 2020 presidential elections, and the intimidation and violent repression of peaceful protesters, opposition members, and journalists.
Belarus’ neighbours have fortified their borders against the migrants, leaving thousands desperate in a country they had thought would be an easy gateway to western Europe.
Dominik Musial, consul general of Poland in Erbil, told Rudaw on Wednesday that the immigrants trying to enter Poland “have been equipped and prepared to forcibly cross the border.”
"We're evidently dealing with a group of people who are trying to forcibly, force enter into our country," he said.
Media coverage is portraying the people at the border as "the sole victims of the situation," he added. "I understand they are. They are. But we also need to look at them from a different viewpoint: they are also intruders."
Belarus' Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei said on Wednesday that European countries have deployed 15,000 troops “against crying women and children to prevent them from getting into Europe... I cannot comprehend it. This is a violation of all possible norms.”
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