SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Turkish authorities have detained 31 Kurdish migrants in Turkey, they decided willingly to deport themselves to the Kurdistan Region, according to a refugee watchdog on Sunday.
Several Kurdish migrants, taking the illegal route from Turkey to reach Europe have been detained by the Turkish police, their number is 31 persons, according to Lutka Foundation for Refugees and Displaced Affairs.
The watchdog has taken efforts to release them from the police’s custody, it said in a statement.
“The migrants are from the Kurdistan Region and mostly from Sulaimani as well as Erbil, several Yezidis included,” adding that “It was decided to willingly deport themselves though Ibrahim Khalil border point to the Region,” Lutka’s statement said.
The watchdog also pointed out that during the last week 15 more migrants were detained by the Turkish police, they disguised themselves as Syrian citizens, however authorities had decided to deport them to Syrian borders, but the watchdog’s efforts have prevented the deportation.
Over the past few years, thousands from the Kurdistan Region have taken the dangerous illegal road to reach Europe’s heartland, seeking for a better life and economic opportunities.
Migrants mostly enter Europe mostly by going through Mediterranean waters, routing from Turkey, and lesser by land which became a more uncommon way due to heavily fortified borders between the European countries.
However, either way, are not far from live risking gambling, and many tragic stories still circulate in the minds of those who survived the rout.
As many as 633,273 people have left the Kurdistan Region for European countries since 2015, according to the watchdog’s statistics.
