Iraq suspends direct flights with Belarus over migrant crisis
Nov 13, 2021
Baghdad [Iraq], November 13 (ANI/Xinhua): Iraq's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday announced the suspension of direct flights to Belarus to protect Iraqi migrants from human trafficking gangs.
Iraqi embassies in Russia and Poland are coordinating efforts for the voluntary return of the Iraqi migrants stranded on the Belarus-Poland borders, Ahmed al-Sahaf, spokesman of the ministry, told the Iraqi News Agency.
Human trafficking networks trap the Iraqi migrants, Al-Sahaf said, adding the ministry is following the situation along Belarus' borders with Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.
The spokesman's comment comes as hundreds of Iraqi migrants have been stranded on the borders of Belarus with its neighbouring countries for several days.
Earlier in the day, the Turkish Civil Aviation Authority also announced that it would not allow citizens of Iraq, Syria, and Yemen to fly from Turkey to Belarus.
Thousands of refugees are gathering on the Belarusian side of the border in an attempt to enter Poland and then Germany to seek asylum in the EU countries. (ANI/Xinhua)
