From Iraq to Belarus: how refugees get to the Polish border and how much they pay for it

How refugees get to the border with Poland and how much do they pay for it, reports BBC.

Photo: Shutterstock

In Iraq, two refugees were buried who died after going to Belarus to cross the border with Poland.

Despite the migration crisis, dozens of Iraqi and Iranian Kurds are still planning the same journey.

The stories of several families from northern Iraq.

“This is my son, he is 20 years old,” says Zarin Suleiman, showing a photograph.

He got stuck on the Polish-Belarusian border.

His mother fears for his life: “He is now in Belarus on the border with Poland. He has a phone, but there is no network, he can’t call me.”

“I feel bad, first of all psychologically, because my son is there. There is nothing I can do and every day there is only bad news,” she says.

She borrowed $ 12 from relatives and sold the land to send her son to work in Europe, so that he could help the family, which is barely making ends meet.

“It worries me that all these young people are now stuck on the Belarusian border. “I ask that the authorities hear their voices,” she says. -Belarus has no mercy for them. And Poland too. They are stuck between two borders. I want them to be heard and have pity on them.”

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Hundreds of refugees stranded at the border are freezing, people do not have enough food, medicine, despite the help of volunteers and humanitarian organizations.

At least eight people have died.

And in Iraq, they buried two refugees who died in Belarus.

Ismail was 25 years old and had diabetes.

“We wanted to get a visa to Germany, but it didn’t work out. We wanted to get a visa from the German embassy, ​​but it didn’t work out,” says Dealer Ismail Mahmud, the father of the deceased.

“It was the safest way to go to get medical care. We received a visa, flew from Ebril to Dubai, then to Belarus. And from there he went to Poland, but got stuck between Poland and Belarus,” the father said.

Relatives say that in the forest Ismail was starving, freezing, out of medicine.

“He called his brother and said he wasn’t feeling well. Said he couldn't take it anymore. Humanitarian organizations promised to help them, but help never came,” said Hawri Abdelrahman, the nephew of the deceased.

Dozens of Iranian and Iraqi Kurds have used the Dubai-Belarus route to reach Poland and the EU.

The authorities of Poland and Lithuania claim that at least one state travel agency in Belarus has made it easier to obtain visas for citizens of the Middle East since May.

And the state airlines of Belarus more than doubled the number of flights from these countries.

The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, said: “Organizing the migration flow through Belarus is more expensive. We have never done this and do not intend to do this. We are doing everything to ensure that this migrant camp does not exist. In order for those who want to get into the European Union, and those who do not want to, we are ready, as we usually did, to put everyone on planes, including Belavia planes, which will take them back home. But these people, I must say, are very stubborn, no one wants to return. And it’s clear that they have nowhere to return.”

Kamaran Mohammed claims that he was able to get to Poland with his wife and three children, but they were later expelled.

“Each visa cost me $1400,” says Kamaran Mohammed. “I would soon be in Germany. I didn't think that I would go back so easily. I thought that I would become a citizen of another country and settle there.”

“And the Polish authorities made their decision - we were deported,” he said.

Kamaran Mohamed set off through Minsk with his wife and three children.

They got tourist visas.

“The plane is full of tourists who are not traveling for tourism. The Belarusian authorities are well aware that these are not tourists, but people who have gathered at the Polish border,” he says.

Companies serving airports in Iraq say they cannot stop the flow of refugees.

“$1200-1400 for a Belarusian visa. And some agencies offer to take a package with tickets - this is from $3000-$3500,” says Khazar Hoshiyar, deputy director of AZMAR AIR.

“The price is not fixed. We see in their passport a Belarus visa or an invitation, which makes it possible to obtain a visa upon arrival. We can't stop them. They say that we are flying to Dubai, and they also have a visa for Dubai,” he says.

Many EU countries believe that Russia helps migrants to get to Belarus.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said: “I want everyone to know that we have absolutely nothing to do with this. There they are trying to assign some responsibility to us for any reason and for no reason at all. Our aviation companies do not transport these people, not a single company of ours does. By the way, Belavia, as Alexander Grigorievich Lukashenko told me, does not carry Belavia either. Charters are booked. Visa-free entry, people buy tickets and fly.”

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Despite the crisis on the border, there are no fewer people in Iraq who want to enter the EU through Belarus.

"That's life. Only God knows when we will die. Of course, I'm afraid for my children, but I'm doing this for them. When I look at what's happening here, it's dangerous. These are temporary difficulties in Belarus and Poland, for a week or two, time will pass. But here you can die every day,” Warser Ibrahim says in German as he prepares to migrate.

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