'Kurdistan is your home,' PM Masrour Barzani says marking World Refugee Day

“To the many refugees and displaced families who have sought shelter and dignity in the Kurdistan Region: this is your home,”
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani visited the Bardarash Camp, where he met with dozens of families, Nov., 2019. ( Photo: Kurdistan 24 / Farhad Ahme )
Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani visited the Bardarash Camp, where he met with dozens of families, Nov., 2019. ( Photo: Kurdistan 24 / Farhad Ahme )

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Marking International Refugee Day, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani told the people who had taken refuge in the autonomous region: Kurdistan is your home.

World Refugee Day is a UN-designated day commemorated on June 20 every year to raise awareness about the conditions of forcibly displaced persons around the globe.

Kurdistan Region is home to over 930,000 thousand refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), who have fled war and prosecution from countries neighboring Iraq.

According to figures published by the Kurdistan Region’s Joint Crisis Center, a government agency tasked with emergency response, the region still hosts more than 900,000 refugees and IDPs.

“To the many refugees and displaced families who have sought shelter and dignity in the Kurdistan Region: this is your home,” Prime Minister Barzani said on Sunday in a tweet.

Along with the tweet, Barzani shared an infographic showing the number of refugees and IDPs the Region has hosted as well as expenditures estimated to be 869 million dollars.

The Region has been hailed by various international non-governmental organizations and countries for hosting significant numbers of displaced populations.