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According to data from the State Border Guard Service (SBGS), more than 2.4 thousand. 1,380 of those who crossed the border this year are Iraqis or show up.
In July, Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis traveled to Baghdad to negotiate the return of migrants and addressed those who planned to come to Lithuania in Arabic and Kurdish: he assured that most of them will not be granted asylum. Talks with the Iraqi government have yet to bear fruit; on the contrary, Iraq is only increasing the number of flights to Minsk.
Lithuanian officials say the migrant flows to Lithuania are organized by the Belarusian regime in response to Vilnius’ active support for the Belarusian opposition and the call for sanctions against Minsk.
So far, the Migration Department has examined more than 200 asylum applications, 140 decisions not to grant asylum have been made, department director Evelina Gudzinskaitė told LRT radio on Thursday.
VIDEO: On the Lithuanian border with Belarus, the army began building a barbed wire fence.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, since 2014, approximately 3 million Iraqis were forced to leave their homes, about 250,000. they found refuge in neighboring countries.
Egdūnas Račius, a professor at Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) and a religious researcher, says that when it comes to the security situation in Iraq, a distinction must be made between autonomous Kurdistan in the north and the rest of the country.
According to the professor, the current socio-political reality in Iraq occurred 30 years ago when the United States forced then-dictator Saddam Hussein to allow Kurdistan to become independent territory.
In 2003, a US-led coalition invaded Iraq. The false assumption that weapons of mass destruction existed in the country was relied upon. The dictator Hussein, who ruled for more than 20 years, was soon overthrown.
“The tensions caused by the occupation, such as confessional and ideological divisions, Iranian influence, have remained in Iraq.” 15 minutes said E. Račius.
Tensions rise in Kurdistan
According to E. Račius, the people of Kurdistan did not face the challenges facing the rest of Iraq due to the American invasion.
AFP / „Scanpix“ nuotr./Irako Kurdistanas
Even before the invasion of the US-led coalition, two dominant political and armed forces had emerged in Kurdistan.
“The Americans forced them to stop fighting each other, but to build a state and participate in elections. However, that order is now being exhausted as new actors begin to take root and the political spectrum of Iraqi Kurds shifts. it is expanding enormously, ”said the professor.
According to E. Račius, foreign Kurds also play an important role. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has withdrawn from Turkey to Iraqi Kurdistan and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, the United Kingdom (United Kingdom) and the European Union (EU), has a lot of power.
Also in Iraqi Kurdistan, more Kurdish opposition forces have withdrawn from Iran.
“This is an internal clash of armed Kurdish groups and partly ideological in Iranian terms, and in Kurdish terms in Iran, Iraq and Turkey. Naturally, many people feel it. trap situations. Due to the stress, developing a business or creating personal well-being becomes more difficult, ”said E. Račius.
The professor points out that the level of tension cannot yet be called a “state of war”, but Kurdistan has been affected by economic difficulties that seem to have overcome it. The economy was thriving here, and western states investing in Kurdistan were ignoring the Iraqi central government.
J.Petronio nuotr./Egdūnas Račius
However, according to E. Račius, investments are shrinking, the economic situation is deteriorating, so the younger part of society is thinking about the possibility of leaving and earning money elsewhere.
“Right now, you would mainly see economic challenges along with political instability, which could lead to an armed conflict – the Kurdistan Civil War. I’m not saying this happens, but that possibility cannot be ruled out. ” 15 minutes said the professor.
According to E. Račius, the situation of the Kurdish Kurds and those who came from Iraq is different between Iran and Turkey. Religious diversity has long been respected here, but there are specific groups, such as homosexuals, who do not feel safe in a conservative society.
“But Kurdistan cannot be compared to Turkmenistan or Zimbabwe, where governments are actually restricting people’s rights and freedoms,” he said.
The threat of terrorism will return
Mustafa Saadoon, director of the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights, lists the biggest security challenges Iraqis face: paramilitary groups, uncontrolled weapons, clan conflicts and criminal gangs.
“There is the possibility of a confrontation between armed groups and US forces. The threat to security is high and there may be armed conflicts between paramilitary groups in the run-up to the elections. Almost all Iraqi parties have paramilitary groups.” 15 minutes Mr Saadoon said.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports that Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who came to power in 2020, has not stopped the illegal treatment of journalists, has carried out arbitrary detentions by armed groups, has lost people and has not stopped punished those who protests organized in the country openly criticize the political elite.
In 2020, torture and forced confessions took hold in the Iraqi criminal justice system, HRW said.
According to Sadoon, democracy in Iraq is just a formality. “Civil and political rights are seriously violated. This became evident during and after the protests in October 2019, when activists were assassinated by paramilitary groups. The killings continue,” said the activist.
The Islamic State (IS), a jihadist group that launched an offensive in Iraq in 2013, eventually seized 40 percent. territories of the country. With the expansion of the counterterrorism operation in the United States and in Iraq, it was announced in late 2017 that the jihadists in the country had been defeated. However, terrorist squads remain in Iraq, still carrying out attacks.
A fatal exploded in a Baghdad market on Tuesday. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, which claimed 36 lives and dozens more injured.
AFP / Scanpix photo / Iraqi forces at the scene of the attack
“IS has a very high potential to get stronger, in my opinion, a certain return is not only probable, but also inevitable,” said E. Račius.
According to M. Saadoon, IS can return at any time.
“The situation of the Iraqis has changed since 2017, they were happy with the victory of the security forces, but now they look weak, unable to control the paramilitary groups. The stability of security in Iraq is temporary, “he said.
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