Iraq’s Ministry of Displacement and Migration announced on Wednesday the return of 154 refugees from Turkey as part of the voluntary program to bring home citizens from abroad.
Their return comes in coordination with the ministry’s office in Turkey, the Iraqi Embassy in Ankara, and the Ministry of Transport which provides buses to the refugees to cross the border through the Kurdistan Region’s Ibrahim Khalil International Border Crossing.
The statement also noted that in the past three months, the government has helped to bring home 1,229 Iraqi refugees from its northern neighbor.
The voluntary return program has been ongoing for over a
year, encouraging Iraqi citizens to return to their liberated areas, previously
occupied by ISIS terrorist group.
Following the emergence of the ISIS and its expansion in
2014, six million Iraqis were internally displaced, with thousands fleeing
abroad to neighboring and western countries.
Since the beginning of this year, the Iraqi federal government has actively helped IDPs and Iraqi refugees settle back into their retaken homes. Many, however, continue to resist a return to their towns due to security concerns and lack of basic services.
Over the past year, the ISIS has carried out insurgency attacks, kidnappings, and ambushes in the country despite Iraq declaring victory against the jihadist group in December 2017.