Iraq returns over 100 refugees from Turkey to liberated areas

The Iraqi Ministry of Displacement and Migration has announced the return of over a hundred Iraqi refugees from Turkey to their homes which were liberated from the so-called Islamic State (IS).

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Iraqi Ministry of Displacement and Migration has announced the return of over a hundred Iraqi refugees from Turkey to their homes which were liberated from the so-called Islamic State (IS).

“The ministry transferred 114 Iraqi refugees from the Akçakale camp in Turkey by road through the Ibrahim Khalil crossing of the Zakho district in Dohuk governorate,” a statement on Wednesday from the ministry read.

It added that the move was done “in cooperation with the Ministry of Transportation to bring [the refugees] to their original areas of residence in the country.”

Nearly five million Iraqis have been displaced since IS swept across two-thirds of the country in a surprise attack in 2014. Baghdad says many of them have returned to their homes, but large numbers of others remain displaced.

The most recent figures released by the International Organization for Migration put the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have yet to return to their areas of origin and are now either living in formal camp locations, informal settlements, or in towns and cities at 1.8 million. 

According to the statement, “the ministry continues to implement its program of the voluntary and free return of displaced Iraqis from neighboring countries.”

It also said the ministry distributed food and water to the returnees in coordination with the Iraqi Human Rights Commission.

After declaring the military defeat of IS late last year following a devastating three-year war, the Iraqi government is seeking to facilitate the return of displaced civilians, many of whom have sought refuge in the Kurdistan Region.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has borne the brunt of the influx of millions of refugees and displaced persons, often relying on its own finances to provide shelter and other basic needs for them. One in four current residents of the Kurdistan Region is either an internally displaced person (IDP) or a refugee. 

International organizations have hinted that Baghdad is guilty of forcibly returning many of the displaced persons to their homes, potentially endangering their lives in their unsafe areas. The Iraqi government continues to deny this claim.

Editing by John J. Catherine