ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The bodies of two Kurdish refugees who died trying to reach Europe were discovered in Greece and Turkey on Tuesday, the director of a refugee rights organisation has told Rudaw. The dead have been identified as Saywan Salih, a 30-year-old from Sardasht in Iranian Kurdistan, and Shkar Mohammed, a 31-year-old from Qaladze, a town in the Sulaimani province of the Kurdistan Region. "After their families informed our office of their whereabouts, we discovered them after two days of search by our representatives in Greece and Turkey," Ari Jalal, head of The Summit Foundation for Refugee and Displaced Affairs (Lutka) said on Wednesday. "They have died in two separate incidents." Salih's body was discovered on the Turkish shores of Turkey's Aegean sea, Jalal said; "according to medical reports, he died of a stroke." Mohammed's body was "discovered in a dense forest near the Greek port city of Thessaloniki," where he died "due to breathing problems," a medical report said. "We will hand over the medical reports to their families in the near future," Jalal said, adding that "the bodies will be repatriated once legal procedures have finished." According to data provided by the Summit Foundation, more than 15,000 Iraqis have sought refuge abroad in 2020. At least ten Iraqis have died in that time, another 15 are missing. The foundation estimates that over 500,000 Iraqis have left their home country since 2014, the year Islamic State (ISIS) swept through Iraq. Over 400 Iraqis have died leaving the country, while 171 more are missing.
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