Page 30 - bon-dia-aruba-20211116

A30 world news
Diamars 16 November 2021

Iraqi Kurd’s death in Belarus underscores migrants’ despair

lan was in his second year at two days at the border, plead-
university studying business ing repeatedly for help and
management but had to quit for insulin injections, to no
due to illness. avail.

The family applied for visas Gaylan died in the arms of
to Germany and Netherlands his brother in the cold for-
for medical treatment but est, while the other brother
were rejected. He desperately watched in shock.
wanted to go to Germany to
get treatment and continue “The last time I talked to him
his studies there. was in the morning of the day
he passed away. ... I asked him
When the Belarus option how he feels. He said, ‘I am
emerged, he began plotting fine but a little bit tired.’” said
with his siblings how they Delir, who buried his son
would do it. Their father, Monday in Irbil.
who works in real estate, cov-
ered the costs for all of them, “I can’t believe that, even if
amounting to $35,000. they were not humans, you
would help them,” he added,
Gaylan and two of his broth- speaking of the Polish troops.
ers along with his sister, her “Now, as Gaylan’s body is
husband and their 5-year-old coming back, I want Poland,
son boarded a flight from Ir- Germany, and international
bil to Dubai on Oct. 14, ar- aid organizations to take care
riving in the Belarusian capi- of the rest of the family and
tal of Minsk two days later. let them in.”
(AP) — When Gaylan De- Poland-Belarus frontier. Pol- the immense risks they are From there, they headed to
lir Ismael heard that other ish police, troops and border willing to take to reach West- the Polish border, where they Officials in Warsaw have
Iraqis were making their guards are refusing entry to ern Europe. Many of them, got stuck, and Gaylan grew voiced their own concern
way to Europe via an easily the migrants, leaving thou- like Gaylan, have been from weaker from the exhaustion about the suffering at the
obtained tourist visa from sands of them huddling in northern Iraq’s relatively sta- and the cold, his family said. border but insist that Poland
the country of Belarus, forests on the Belarusian side ble, oil-rich Kurdish region, is the target in a new form of
the 25-year-old from the amid freezing temperatures. but where graft, unemploy- It’s not clear what happened hybrid war waged by Belarus
Kurdistan region jumped ment and pessimism run on the night of Oct. 28, amid and that they must seal their
at the chance. He packed a The circumstances of the high. a confrontation between Pol- frontier. The authorities say
bag last month in the hope confrontation at the border ish police and migrants try- that if they begin to let some
of reaching Germany for a that led to Gaylan’s death are Uncertainty, bleak economic ing to cross. Gaylan’s sister through, it will make the sit-
new life and treatment for unclear, but his father, Delir prospects and perpetual in- ended up in a Polish hospital uation worse by encouraging
his chronic illnesses. Ismael Mahmoud, blamed stability have led many to after she broke her leg and others.
Poland, even though the large spend their entire savings on reportedly lost conscious-
He never made it. buildup of security forces the journey to Europe, hop- ness, while Gaylan and his Delir understands the despair
there did not begin until days ing for a better life there. two brothers were deported that led to his son’s death.
Gaylan’s body, in a black cof- after his death. to the Belarus side of the for-
fin wrapped in plastic, was Gaylan had suffered health est, despite his deteriorating “If you ask me as a father, I
returned to Irbil’s airport “Unfortunately, the Polish problems for most of his short condition. don’t like or want my chil-
in northern Iraq on Sunday police — instead of helping life, diagnosed with diabetes dren to be outside, but the
after he died in a dark and them — they started to de- at 9 and a meningococcal in- Gaylan was separated from bad economic situation here,
soggy forest near the Belarus- port them and put them on fection when he was 20. His his nephew and brother-in- the lack of job opportunities
Poland border. the other side of Poland’s father took him to Iran and law, who was carrying his in- and unemployment forces
border,” said Delir, a broken Turkey for treatment, but his sulin in his backpack. He and me to say yes for them to mi-
He is one of at least 11 people figure as he waited at the air- health did not improve. Gay- his brothers spent another grate,” he added.
known to have died in the port to pick up his son’s body.
border crisis that European
Union officials blame on Women dressed in black,
the authoritarian regime of including Gaylan’s mother,
Belarus President Alexander wept and murmured “God is
Lukashenko, accusing him of great!” as his coffin was car-
using the migrants as pawns ried away, along with that of
to retaliate for Western sanc- another Iraqi on the same
tions. Belarus denies this, flight, Kurdo Khalid, whose
blaming Europe for denying family says died Oct. 31 of a
them safe passage. brain hemorrhage at the bor-
der.
Thousands of people, most of
them from the Middle East, “It is really a sad tragedy. I
have attempted the journey urge the youths here not to
since Lukashenko announced migrate from Kurdistan,” said
in May that he was loosening Bilal Khalid who received his
border controls against West- brother’s body at the airport.
ern-bound migrants. That
move followed EU sanctions The deaths underscored the
for his harsh crackdown on despair felt by many young
internal dissent. people in Iraq and Syria —
both conflict ridden coun-
That has led in recent days tries plagued by corruption
to tense standoffs on the and mismanagement — and