Polish-Belarusian border: Iraq wants to fly refugees out

Many Iraqis are among the refugees who are stuck under difficult conditions on the Belarusian border. Iraq now wants to bring them back to their home country with a first special flight.

The Iraqi refugees have to be brought back from the Polish-Belarusian border area in order to prevent worse, said the spokesman for the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, Ahmed al-Sahaf. “All states defend themselves against illegal entry into their country. The large groups of refugees on the border between Belarus and Poland, including Iraqis, initiate measures that can be dangerous for the refugees.”

The refugees are currently exposed to a difficult situation, bad weather conditions and hardly anything to eat. “Therefore, the only way to avoid further risks is for the refugees to return to Iraq voluntarily, with the support of the State Department.”

No more visas

The government, according to the Iraqi online news portal Alamssar, will organize the first return flight with Iraqi Airways on Thursday. According to the Secretary of State in the Iraqi Ministry of Migration, Karim Al Nouri, 525 Iraqis have so far been housed in eight camps in Poland. How many Iraqis are stranded in the Belarusian-Polish border area is not yet known. According to the government, many have already registered for a return trip.

In addition, according to the spokesman for the Iraqi Foreign Ministry Al-Sahaf in an interview with the Reuters news agency, the Belarusian honorary consul in Baghdad is no longer allowed to issue visas for his country: “The Iraqi foreign ministry has suspended the work permit of the Belarusian honorary consul in Baghdad, so none more visas will be issued. The human smuggling, which is dangerous for Iraqi refugees, must be stopped. “

Iraqi delegation travels to Germany

According to information from Alamssar, which has been confirmed by the Arab media, an Iraqi delegation is to travel to Germany in the coming days to speak about the Iraqi refugees whose asylum applications have been rejected in Germany.

Ministry spokesman Al-Sahaf said: “We are in talks with our partners and friends in the European Union. We support all declarations on human rights and urge the Iraqis to return with our national airline. The Iraqi embassies and consulates will support this process . “

There are particularly many Kurds from northern Iraq among the refugees in Belarus. The Iraqi government had already stopped flights to the Belarusian capital Minsk three months ago in order to limit the number of refugees. However, these traveled via other airports.