A woman on the Poland-Belarus border speaks to NRT on November 9, 2021 (NRT Digital Media/Screenshot)
AM:08:09:10/11/2021
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SULAIMANI — Amid harrowing scenes on the border between Poland and Belarus, Kurdish migrants spoke to NRT on Tuesday night (November 9) about their current situation and why they decided to emigrate from the Kurdistan Region.
A migrant who gave his name as Peshawa said that conditions are terrible with the cold weather and that the migrants are being poorly treated by both the Polish and Belarusian security forces.
He said that there are between 2,000 and 3,000 migrants in the area, around 600 of whom are women, children, elderly, disabled, or have medical conditions. Some of the women are pregnant.
He said that "a huge humanitarian disaster” will occur if they are not helped, adding that it is a "modern Anfal” that faces Kurds there.
Peshawa said that none of the Kurdish migrants want to go back to the Kurdistan Region and live under the authority of the two ruling parties, who have rendered their future there "hopeless.”
Another migrant, who declined to be identified by name, said he is accompanied by his wife and three children. They have been on the border for two days and he said that they are without food and water and that the weather is cold.
He called on the foreign governments to help them.
A third migrant, who was with his wife and two children, said that he never wants to return to the Kurdistan Region because his family fled suffering there.
He said that the KRG has not done anything for them in the past and they are not calling for its help now.
He added that no one has come here for fun, but they all fled from the authorities in the Region.
A fourth migrant said that her family had nothing in the Kurdistan Region and borrowed money to reach Belarus.
She said that her child is ill and she wants to reach Europe to access medical care.
Since reaching the Poland-Belarus border, she and her family have unsuccessfully tried crossing the border five times.
"If the [KRG] had done something for me, I would not be here,” she said.
(NRT Digital Media)