Video produced by Sarkawt Mohammed
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - On Sunday, the bodies of two Kurdish migrants were returned home for burial. Gaylan Dler, 25, and Kurdo Khalid, 34, died in Belarus where thousands of Kurds from Iraq are caught in a standoff between Minsk and the European Union.
Gaylan Dler had diabetes. He left Erbil with his two brothers, sister, and her family on October 12, traveling through Dubai to reach Minsk. On the border, they were pushed back and forth across the frontier by Belarusian and Polish forces, his sister Iman Dler told Rudaw from a center in Poland where she was staying after breaking her leg.
Gaylan lost his supply of insulin when he got separated from his brother-in-law in confusion at the border and died in the cold on October 29. He was buried in Erbil on Monday.
“His siblings accompanied him for his treatment, he was ill. They were also jobless and had no other options. Gaylan was a student who couldn't finish his schooling. He was also unable to work here. He also emigrated for medical treatment,” his mother Shler Mahmood told Rudaw at his funeral.
His father urged other would-be migrants not to risk the same route through Belarus. “They could take any route but this one. It's a very bad route. My advice is not to be deceived by the traffickers or anyone else,” said Dler Ismael.
Kurdo Khalid traveled to accompany his younger brother, Bilal, who wanted to emigrate. He planned to return home to the Kurdistan Region, but died of a stroke in Minsk.
“It was supposed to be comforting for my family if he could accompany me and guide me, because he didn't want to emigrate. He promised my father that he would return after I arrived, not like this, repatriating his body,” said Bilal at his brother’s funeral.
Since 2015, nearly 635,000 people have migrated to Europe from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, according to the Summit Foundation for Refugee and Displaced Affairs. Of them, 449 have lost their lives on the way. Kurds from Iraq make up a large number of the migrants on the Belarus-Poland border. Most say they looking for a better life, one they cannot build at home where unemployment is high.
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Tuesday said the region’s economy is not the government’s fault. He pointed to budget disputes with Baghdad, the coronavirus pandemic, and low oil prices. Speaking at the Middle East Peace and Security (MEPS) forum at the American University of Kurdistan (AUK) in Duhok, he said his cabinet has worked hard to create jobs.
In the past two years, “we have created about 112,000 jobs by reactivating some of the projects, some by private sector some by public partnership and some sponsored by the government itself,” he said.
Pointing to the large number of foreign workers who come to the Kurdistan Region for employment opportunities, Barzani said there is work for those who want it. “So why can they find jobs here but some people cannot find a job? It depends on the nature of the jobs that these people want to have. So many of them who want to go to Europe are in search of different opportunities, it’s not a flight of desperation… I hope the truth is told and the world knows that these people who went there are like every other immigrant that wants to travel and go in search of different opportunities in different parts of the world.”
The European Union has accused Minsk of creating the crisis by luring migrants with easy visas and the promise of access to western Europe. Belarus’ neighbours have fortified their borders and told migrants not to risk the trip. Iraq has begun registering its nationals in Belarus and offering flights home for those who want them.
Gaylan Dler had diabetes. He left Erbil with his two brothers, sister, and her family on October 12, traveling through Dubai to reach Minsk. On the border, they were pushed back and forth across the frontier by Belarusian and Polish forces, his sister Iman Dler told Rudaw from a center in Poland where she was staying after breaking her leg.
Gaylan lost his supply of insulin when he got separated from his brother-in-law in confusion at the border and died in the cold on October 29. He was buried in Erbil on Monday.
“His siblings accompanied him for his treatment, he was ill. They were also jobless and had no other options. Gaylan was a student who couldn't finish his schooling. He was also unable to work here. He also emigrated for medical treatment,” his mother Shler Mahmood told Rudaw at his funeral.
His father urged other would-be migrants not to risk the same route through Belarus. “They could take any route but this one. It's a very bad route. My advice is not to be deceived by the traffickers or anyone else,” said Dler Ismael.
Kurdo Khalid traveled to accompany his younger brother, Bilal, who wanted to emigrate. He planned to return home to the Kurdistan Region, but died of a stroke in Minsk.
“It was supposed to be comforting for my family if he could accompany me and guide me, because he didn't want to emigrate. He promised my father that he would return after I arrived, not like this, repatriating his body,” said Bilal at his brother’s funeral.
Since 2015, nearly 635,000 people have migrated to Europe from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, according to the Summit Foundation for Refugee and Displaced Affairs. Of them, 449 have lost their lives on the way. Kurds from Iraq make up a large number of the migrants on the Belarus-Poland border. Most say they looking for a better life, one they cannot build at home where unemployment is high.
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Tuesday said the region’s economy is not the government’s fault. He pointed to budget disputes with Baghdad, the coronavirus pandemic, and low oil prices. Speaking at the Middle East Peace and Security (MEPS) forum at the American University of Kurdistan (AUK) in Duhok, he said his cabinet has worked hard to create jobs.
In the past two years, “we have created about 112,000 jobs by reactivating some of the projects, some by private sector some by public partnership and some sponsored by the government itself,” he said.
Pointing to the large number of foreign workers who come to the Kurdistan Region for employment opportunities, Barzani said there is work for those who want it. “So why can they find jobs here but some people cannot find a job? It depends on the nature of the jobs that these people want to have. So many of them who want to go to Europe are in search of different opportunities, it’s not a flight of desperation… I hope the truth is told and the world knows that these people who went there are like every other immigrant that wants to travel and go in search of different opportunities in different parts of the world.”
The European Union has accused Minsk of creating the crisis by luring migrants with easy visas and the promise of access to western Europe. Belarus’ neighbours have fortified their borders and told migrants not to risk the trip. Iraq has begun registering its nationals in Belarus and offering flights home for those who want them.
Additional reporting by Bakhtiyar Qadir and Hunar Hamid
Translation by Sarkawt Mohammed
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