Iraqi Kurdistan Minister Addresses Syria, Refugee Crisis
An exclusive interview with Minister Falah Mustafa Bakir, head of the Department of Foreign Relations of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq.
Washington — The Kurdistan Region of Iraq is facing a crisis because of a surge in Syrian refugees, said Falah Mustafa Bakir, head of the Department of Foreign Relations of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq, in an exclusive interview with Al-Monitor.
Syrian refugees in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq number 220,000, and are increasing by 500 to 1,000 each day and include Syrian Arabs and Christians as well as Kurds.
Bakir, who is in Washington this week for meetings with US policymakers, said this crisis is “not noticed by the international community.”
The refugees “are in need of help, shelter, educational services, some of them are in camps, some of them are scattered,” he said. He added that this is a priority in his discussions in Washington.
