EU to start diplomatic initiatives on Belarus migrant crisis

By Omer Tugrul Cam

BRUSSELS (AA) - The European Union is preparing to intensify diplomatic efforts on the Belarus migrant crisis as the vice president of the European Commission is expected to visit several countries, including Turkey.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told the European Parliament that this summer people from mainly northern Iraq were transported to Baghdad and then Minsk and later to the border of Poland and Lithuania.

Borrell said that thanks to his intervention, Iraqi authorities suspended flights from Baghdad to Minsk.

“Many other airports in the Middle East have been used as a hub to send people from Syria, from Iraq, from Afghanistan to Belarus and, from there, to the European borders,” he said.

“We have been engaging in diplomatic outreach alerting the countries of origin and transit about this situation and asking them for cooperation to stop this flow,” said Borrell.

“To date, the European External Action Service has been reaching out to 13 relevant partner countries,” he said. “As I said, I have personally discussed this issue with Iraqi authorities, and they took concrete measures suspending direct flights and closing two honorary Belarusian consulates in the country.”

“But now our outreach has to be much more extended because it is not a point to point travel with a single or a couple of actors; it is a full network of destination with transit countries, involving a lot of airlines and a lot of people,” he added.

- EU Commission vice president to visit several countries

Noting that the EU will continue diplomatic outreach regarding the issue, Borrell said: “Vice-President of the European Commission (Margaritis) Schinas will…go to Abu Dhabi, to Beirut, to Baghdad and Erbil in the coming days.”

“There are many other places. And later, also to Ankara, to specifically discuss this crisis, which is putting European Union borders under pressure at the cost of human suffering and human lives,” he said.

Borrell said the EU was also monitoring “potential new routes and possible new flight connections as well as developments in more than 20 countries.”

“I have also asked the delegations to embark in wide efforts of information to the people, explaining to the people of these countries that the promises of a free entry to Europe are fake, that they are being cheated, they are being stolen, they are being asked to pay $6,000 or $7,000 for a travel that goes nowhere,” he said. “The first thing to do is to try to inform these people, these potential victims of the smugglers. To tell them the truth ‘do not go, do not believe these people, do not spend your money, do not put your lives at risk, do not do that,’” he added.

Poland and the EU have accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of trying to retaliate against EU sanctions by deliberately inviting and forcing migrants toward the Polish border.

EU countries bordering Belarus -- Lithuania, Latvia and Poland -- have reported a dramatic spike in the number of irregular crossings since August.

NATO and the EU consider Belarus’ approach to migrants an effort to destabilize and undermine security in the bloc through non-military means.

According to the EU’s latest figures, 7,935 people tried to enter the bloc via the Belarus-EU border so far this year, up sharply from just 150 last year.

On Monday, Polish authorities stepped up border protection and mobilized more than 12,000 troops after a large group of migrants started marching toward the country’s frontier with Belarus accompanied by the Belarusian military.