“We will do everything together so that the Lukashenko regime no longer lures people to the EU borders with false promises,” German Minister of State in the Foreign Office Niels Annen said in a tweet after a phone call with Barzani, referring to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Barzani’s office has not immediately commented on the phone call. Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) spokesperson Jotiar Adil last week said Belarus is using Kurdish migrants as a “trump card” against the European Union in protest of sanctions imposed after a contested presidential election last year.
Europe is fortifying itself against a wave of migration, including at least 8,000 Kurds from Iraq, who traveled to Belarus with the hopes of gaining access to western Europe. Dramatic scenes from the Belarus-Poland border have made headlines for the past week. Some migrants have sustained injuries and several have lost their lives. On Friday news broke of the death of a 14-year old Kurdish boy who reportedly died from the freezing conditions.
Last week, the migrants made their way to the Polish border where they hoped to cross the frontier and then make their way to Germany, which is the desired destination for most of them. Poland boosted its security, setting out a line of border guards and Hummers.
Migrants have made several attempts to cross the border. On Saturday, a group of fifty people were detained, according to AFP. “We don’t know where they are taking them,” migrant Aryan Zellmi told Rudaw English from the border about a large group that he said went missing.
Zellmi said Polish border guards spread a rumour on Friday that the migrants would be granted entry. “They said the borders will open on Monday and Germany will allow us to enter,” he said.
Polish officials have denied the rumour and reported the migrants and Belarusian forces appear to be preparing for an attempt to break through the border.
“The Polish borders will remain closed and protected. No one has the right to pass the borders without official documentation. The Belarusians have fooled you. The Belarusian forces are using you,” Polish forces were heard saying in an Arabic message blasted across the border in a video shared by senior security official Stanislaw Zaryn.
Iraq has suspended the work of both the honorary embassy of Belarus in Baghdad and the consulate in Erbil in a bid to prevent its citizens from traveling to Minsk. Turkey, which many Kurds use as a pathway to Belarus, has banned Iraqi citizens from boarding flights to Minsk.
Iraq on Saturday said it is providing “exceptional flights” from Belarus to Iraq for its nationals who want to return home, according to state media.
Since October 2020, the EU has imposed progressively restrictive measures against Belarus, adopted in response to concerns over the 2020 presidential election and intimidation and violent repression of peaceful protesters, opposition members, and journalists.
German Minister-President of Saxony Michael Kretschmer on Friday called on Kurds to build their future at home.
EU members of the United Nations Security Council and the US condemned Belarus for the migrant crisis on its borders on Friday, describing it as an “orchestrated instrumentalisation of human beings whose lives and wellbeing have been put in danger for political purposes by Belarus.”
