After weeks of wandering and surviving on the Polish and Belarusian borders, today 374 Iraqis have left on a plane from Minsk to Iraq. Thousands of people are still trapped in the forests on the borders of Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.
After weeks of cold and no escorts, today’s 374 Iraqis threw in the towel and chose to return to their home country over another residency. The passengers, mostly Iraqi Kurds, traveled from the Belarusian capital, Minsk, to Erbil and then to Baghdad.
Many returnees cited harsh conditions at the border as the reason for their return. The winter cold, living without shelter and frequent beatings by border guards make the situation unbearable.
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According to the European Union, the migration crisis is the intention of the Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko. With the support of Russia, Lukashenko captured Europe’s fears of a new influx of refugees. The European Union wants to reduce political support for the opposition in its country. This led to a new migration route with an air bridge from the Middle East to Eastern Europe. Thousands of people – the Polish government speaks of 14,000, the European Commission of 2,000 – are staying in camps in front of the closed border with Poland. Most of them are of Iraqi Kurdish origin and have little chance of obtaining asylum in the European Union.
publicity stunt
The Belarusian authorities are seizing the opportunity to return to put more pressure on European leaders. Lukashenko’s spokeswoman requested that the European Union establish a humanitarian corridor to host 2,000 refugees in the camp, “we in turn want to facilitate the return of the remaining 5,000 refugees to their homeland,” she told the Belta news agency.
According to the spokeswoman, Lukashenko took up the proposal with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and she said she would take it to the European Union. “We are keeping our promises while the European Union has not yet fulfilled any of its commitments from the European Union,” she added.
