The Iraqi Kurds, together with the Iraqi authorities, are discussing the possibility of sending a flight to Belarus to take out fellow citizens, which will turn into a disaster for several dozen Yazidi families who are on the Belarusian-Polish border with young children.

Among the migrants stuck on the Polish-Belarusian border there are Kurds, Yezidis and Arabs, all of them from Iraq. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kurdistan is negotiating with Baghdad to prepare for the departure of an aircraft for the return to Iraq of those who agree.

But, for most Yazidi families, returning to Iraq is a disaster. The Yezidis have nowhere to return to, they have nothing, no homes, no jobs, no towns, and villages in which they lived. Many Yazidis prefer death rather than return to camps for refugees and displaced persons in Iraq.

Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland have recently reported an increase in the number of illegal migrants detained at the border with Belarus, the countries accused Minsk of creating a migration crisis. Minsk denies all charges. In connection with the situation, the President of Poland has imposed a state of emergency on the territories bordering Belarus, the army and police are involved in border protection. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko noted that Minsk will no longer restrain the flow of illegal migrants to the EU countries: due to Western sanctions, there is "neither money nor strength" for this. Belarusian border guards have repeatedly stated about the forcible expulsion of migrants by Lithuania, Poland and Latvia to the Belarusian territory.

On Monday, the State Border Committee of Belarus reported that a large group of refugees, mainly Kurds, among whom there are Yezidis, headed for the border of Belarus with Poland. More than 2 thousand refugees, including a significant number of women and children, stopped in front of the Polish barriers on the border line, they set up a spontaneous camp. Polish security forces do not let them through, migrants have made attempts to overcome the barriers.

Deputy Minister for Migration and Migrants of Iraq Karim al-Nuri said that Baghdad intends to return to their homeland those refugees who want it, including with the help of the Iraqi embassy in Russia, since Iraq does not have an embassy in Belarus. He noted that the Iraqi authorities asked other countries not to allow Iraqis to reach Belarus as a sign of goodwill for the European Union after Brussels threatened to impose sanctions against Iraq.

Mlate Ezid