Iraq wants to take its citizens from the Polish-Belarusian border. || Спецпроект 14.11.2021

This is a special program from the ’ANNA NEWS’, I am Constantine Reztsov.

Iraq has stopped all flights to Belarus. According to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry — it was done to protect Iraqis from smugglers. The government in Baghdad offers repatriations to the compatriots who find themselves in a difficult situation on the border of Poland with Belarus, an Iraqi diplomat told to the AFP.

The migrants with the Iraqi citizenship on the Polish-Belarusian border are mainly Iraqi Kurds, who are leaving their autonomous region in the country due to economic problems and instability. In order to help their citizens, and ensure their safety, Iraqi diplomats from Moscow and Warsaw went to the Polish-Belarusian border — the Foreign Ministry reported.

Last week, Belarusian consulates in Erbil and Baghdad, where tourist visas were issued to Iraqis, were temporarily closed.

The Turkish Directorate General of Civil Aviation stated on Friday that Turkey has imposed a ban on flights from its territory to Minsk for the citizens of Syria, Yemen and Iraq, until a further notice. Istanbul is one of the main air hubs via which the migrants enter Belarus.

Thousands of migrants from the Middle East took the route via Belarus to get to the EU. However, the Polish and the Lithuanian border guards began to notice an increased flow of illegal immigrants along the eastern borders of the EU. As a result, the arriving migrants got stuck at the border — they are not allowed to enter Poland and Lithuania, but they have nothing to do in Belarus either.

Now the problem has gained a critical mass. The temperature in the region dropped below zero. Hungry and cold refugees have set up makeshift camps along the EU border. They sit near campfires, waiting to be admitted to the EU. Staying in the Eastern Europe wasn’t a part of their plans — most of them dream of being in Germany.

The ’ANNA NEWS’ follows the events. Stay tuned!