Politics

Kurdistan Region to repatriate bodies of Syrian Kurdish refugees who died in Croatia

Their bodies will be returned to the Kurdistan Region for transport back to Syria to allow them to be buried in their homeland, the statement concluded

Wladimir van Wilgenburg 2021/03/30 11:06

Refugees from Syria arrive on the shores of the Greek island of Lesbos aboard an inflatable dinghy across the Aegean Sea from Turkey, Sept. 7, 2015. (Photo: Angelos Tzortinis/AFP)

Kurdistan Syria Rojava Masrour Barzani

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The bodies of four Syrian Kurdish refugees that died in a traffic accident in Croatia will be repatriated to the Kurdistan Region, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said on Tuesday.

“Today, we mourn the tragic loss of four individuals from Western Kurdistan,” Barzani’s office said in a statement, referring to the part of Syria predominantly populated by Kurds, who also commonly use the term Rojava (Western) Kurdistan to refer to their region.

He added that the four “lost their lives in an unfortunate traffic accident in Croatia involving a number of refugees,” adding, “we extend our condolences to the families of the victims and wish the injured a speedy recovery.”

Their bodies will be returned to the Kurdistan Region for transport back to Syria to allow them to be buried in their homeland, the statement concluded.

Last week, a freight truck overturned in Croatia, killing four people who were hiding inside and injuring a number of others, AP reported.

According to data from the Kurdistan Region’s Joint Crisis Coordination Center (JCC), the Kurdistan Region hosts 99 percent of Syrian refugees in Iraq. In January, the JCC said the Kurdistan Region was home to 239,476 Syrians, of which the majority are Kurds.

A large number of Kurds have died trying to cross into Europe via land routes through the Balkans or across the Mediterranean Sea. Most die at sea, including Alan Kurdi, a 3-year-old Syrian Kurdish refugee from Kobani whose body washed up on a Turkish shore in 2015, an incident that captured the world’s attention amid a growing humanitarian crisis in war-torn Syria.

Earlier this month Pope Francis met Alan Kurdi’s father to discuss the situation of refugees and migrants trying to reach Europe.

The International Organization for Migration said in a recent report that more than “2,000 people lost their lives at sea attempting to reach Europe in 2020, despite the extensive mobility restrictions imposed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic” and another 300 deaths had been recorded in 2021.

Editing by Joanne Stocker-Kelly