KRG: our doors are open to receive the returned Kurdish refugees

Shafaq News/ The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announced on Wednesday that mafia networks tempt residents in Kurdistan and Iraq to migrate to countries abroad, especially Europe.

The head of the Foreign Relations Department in the Kurdistan Region, Safin Dizayi said in a joint press conference that the KRG cannot prevent the Kurdish people who want to travel abroad adding “it is one of the human rights that the person has freedom of movement.”

He pointed out that mafia networks, whether inside or outside the region, are also human traffickers, affirming that people sold their property to travel abroad through those networks.

“According to what its Minister of Foreign Affairs told me, Lithuania does not have experience in dealing with refugees, therefore, we call on the federal government and the regional government to act quickly to solve the problem of Iraqi immigrants stuck there.”

Dizayi continued, “We support the voluntary return of refugees and our doors are open to receive them,” noting that 37 Kurdish refugees are stuck between the borders of Belarus and Lithuania, and the government is making efforts to address their situation.”

Last week, the head of the Foreign Relations Department asked the Lithuanian government to provide the necessary aid to Iraqi refugees until their fate is resolved.

In a phone call with the Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, Dizayi said that some of these refugees are going through bad conditions, so they are asking the Lithuanian government to provide more aid for them.

On behalf of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Dizayi thanked the Lithuanian government for hosting refugees from Iraq in general and from the region in particular.