“The border guards have given us the tools to break through the fence”
The situation on the Polish-Belarusian border remains tense. Thousands of people live in a temporary camp and are waiting for the opportunity to enter the territory of the European Union. Migrants, most of whom are indigenous to Iraq, are trying to cross the border by force, but are facing serious resistance from Polish security forces. A number of Middle Eastern media contacted those who tried to infiltrate Poland and found out details about the incident.
Foto: AP
According to a number of international organizations, more than 180,000 people have left Iraqi Kurdistan since the beginning of 2018. The people of Iraq's Kurdish autonomy are migrating due to the unstable domestic political situation in the country and the Middle East region as a whole. Most migrants are trying to settle in the European Union, especially in Germany, where the largest Kurdish diaspora in the world already exists.
After the Greek authorities firmly closed the border with Turkey, many migrants began looking for alternative ways to get to Europe. Many of them are trying to get into the EU via Belarus. To prevent the influx of migrants, the Polish authorities are sending troops to the border and building new barriers.
Despite the fact that the authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan have offered migrants help to return home, many of them still remain on the Polish border and are waiting for permission to enter. The Kurdish news agency Rudaw conducted an interview with an Iraqi who traveled to Belarus to find out what the migrants are facing.
Wadi Zelmi, a partner, lived in a small village in the Havraman Mountains in southern Kurdistan. Due to rising unemployment, he left his family and school and tried to emigrate to Germany. According to him, he made his first attempt a month ago. However, the Belarusian authorities banned him from entering due to visa problems, after which he had to spend three days at Minsk airport waiting for the return flight. The trip cost Iraq a decent sum – five thousand dollars.
The publication does not say exactly how the Iraqis will get to Belarus. As the “MK” has become known before, Iraqi citizens are buying their own trip to neighboring Syria. At Damascus Airport, she will board Cham Wings, which has made dozens of unplanned flights on the Damascus-Minsk route in transit through the airspace of Iraq, Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia in recent weeks. Most of the money that migrants pay to get to Europe goes to pay for traffic and security through Iraq and Syria, which are controlled by various armed groups.
According to Rudaw, migrants arriving in Belarus have little understanding of where they are. Therefore, after long days of waiting, they decided to attack the Polish border. On the eve of the “assault”, thousands of people spent the night in the forest on the outskirts of Grodno and then moved towards the control of Kuzinka. According to Rudaw News, Belarusian border guards handed out tools to migrants to break fences and cut down trees. The agency's spokesman believes that all that has happened is provocation by the Belarusian authorities.
“It is clear that they (the Belarussian authorities – MK) are behind this and they want to use it to get what they want from the European Union … we have undoubtedly fallen victim to Poland and Belarus,” he said. migrant Rudaw.
According to the Polish authorities, several thousand people have gathered at the border. Most migrants are natives of Iraq as well as Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey. Warsaw has announced that it will not accept foreign nationals on its territory and has also accused the Belarussian government of trying to destabilize the situation in the region.
Migrants brought to Belarus attacked the Polish border: frames of chaos
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