Return is New Year’s wish for Syrian refugees in Kurdistan Region of Iraq
ERBIL, Iraq (North Press) – Syrian refugees in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRG) are welcoming the New Year, but without any celebrations due to the regional government’s ban on holding large gatherings as one of the measures to prevent coronavirus.
The majority of refugees agree that 2020 has not been a good year for them.
“It was a bad year; we hope that the New Year will be better for everyone,” said Taha Suleiman, a refugee from Hasakah city who came to Erbil’s Dar Shukran Camp in 2012.
Rawda Othman, a refugee from northern Syria’s Girke Lege in who came to the KRG in 2014, wishes the return of the old days.
Samer Ibrahim, a refugee from Qamishli who has spent nine years in the KRG, still dreams of return. “We hope to go home, and all refugees return to their country and city and forget the bad days that we had in 2020.”
The coronavirus pandemic caused the closure of a number of companies and commercial activities in the KRG, which was reflected in the lack of job opportunities for Syrian refugees as well.
The Kurdistan Regional Government built the first Syrian refugee camp in Domiz in late 2011, which was the first New Year’s celebration away from home for the Syrian refugees there.
Dar Shukran Camp, 15 kilometers west of Erbil, is close to the capital, but the majority of its residents spend most of their time inside the camp in an environment similar to the Syrian one, and the dream of return remains their biggest hope.