SULAIMANI (ESTA) — At least 22 Kurdish migrants who were detained by Egyptian navy will be repatriated to the Kurdistan Region in the near future, a refugee organization said on Wednesday.
Head of Lutka Foundation for Refugee and Displaced Affairs Ari Jalal said the migrants were detained by Egyptian navy after they tried to reach Italy from Turkey.
“They have been in custody for several weeks in Egypt,” Jalal told Esta Media Network.
He further said the Lutka organization was able to receive a release decision from Egyptian authorities after it started investigating the case.
“They will be returned to the Kurdistan Region by our organization in the near future,” Jalal added.
On October 25, the Lutka organization called on the Iraqi Ministry of Migration and Displaced to repatriate the migrants, including both genders.
Last month, the Kurdistan parliament’s committee of relations and Kurdish diaspora said nearly 14,500 youths from the Region had migrated to European countries in 2020. Twenty-seven have gone missing.
Nearly 450,000 people in the Region and Iraq have migrated to Europe in the past six years, according to the parliament’s committee.
