Humanitarian

Iraq will arrange special flights for migrants in Belarus who want to return: Official

"Within 48 hours, special flights will be made to return migrants trapped on the borders of Belarus and Poland who wish to return voluntarily."

Kurdistan 24 2021/11/14 14:39

Iraqis arriving to Baghdad International Airport from India, May 4, 2021. (Photo: Iraqi Airways)

Iraq Belarus Migrants on the Polish-Belarus border

Iraq will soon arrange air travel for those migrants on the borders of Belarus and Poland who want to return to their country voluntarily, Iraq’s Deputy Minister of Migration and Displaced announced.

“Within 48 hours, special flights will be made to return migrants trapped on the borders of Belarus and Poland who wish to return voluntarily. We cannot force them to return,” said Karim Hussein Ali Al-Nouri on Saturday.

He also said that the Iraqi government is “closely following the situation of the Iraqis stranded at the border, and the minister of transport has arrived in Moscow.”

“The European Union insists on not granting asylum seekers to Poland from Belarus and other countries, and this matter is clear, and we appeal to Iraqis there to voluntarily return,” he said.

The flights will be from Belarus’s capital Minsk back to Baghdad.

“As a goodwill gesture towards Europe, the Iraqi government has suspended all flights to Belarus to end the illegal migration,” Al-Nouri said.