VIDEO: After over 50 years, a Kurd from Russia is reunited with his sister in Kurdistan

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Separated for over five decades, two siblings were reunited in the Kurdistan Region.

Ibrahim, now in his 60s has not seen his older sister for 57 years. He arrived at the Erbil International Airport from the Russian capital of Moscow where he currently lives, anxious to meet her.

With tears of joy, family members and close friends welcomed Ibrahim upon his arrival in Kurdistan, but his sister was unable to meet him there due to her old age.

Instead, she greeted him with a red-carpet welcome in a more beloved scene than the one at the airport, her village of Harbon in the Barzan area.

“The moment someone sees their sister in person, they fall into memories of the past. For 57 years, I have been separated from my sister,” Ibrahim told Kurdistan 24.

“After such a long time, when someone sees their sister, what do they realize? They realize at that moment how much their youth has been burned. The heart is confused, and the memories of being separated at a young age are recollected.”

Ibrahim said he was 4 years old when he was separated from his sister and said he does not even know how and when she was married.

“Today, I see many people around her that love and take care of her. Because of this, I began to love them all as well,” he stated.

Ibrahim’s sister, known as Dayka Bilol, is the wife of Mullah Taha, a friend of the late Kurdish leader Mullah Mustafa Barzani.

In 1947, Mullah Mustafa Barzani and his companions were forced into exile in the former Soviet Union after the collapse of the short-lived Republic of Mahabad. During their stay there for 12 years until 1959, at least 250 men from the Barzani tribe married Russian women.

As a result of these marriages, nearly 806 children were born. Ibrahim is one of those children.

Asked if she was happy about the reunion with her brother, Dayka Bilol held back tears as she responded.

“Am I happy? My happiness is as great as the world, and I would not give up this moment for anything in it.”

(Additional reporting by Kurdistan 24 correspondent Ali Fakhir)