Iraqi Foreign Ministry closes Belarusian consulates in Baghdad and Erbil – ROJ News

The reason for the closure of consulates, according to publications, was the desire of the Iraqi authorities to counteract the growth of migration.

“The Iraqi side believes that the closure of the honorary consulates will minimize the issuance of visas for Iraqis to travel to Belarus. However, honorary consulates are not authorized to issue visas. I think this is just a misunderstanding. I think this is a bad reason to close consulates, but this is their decision, and we must respect it, ”Fuad Hamad said in a conversation with Zerkаlo.io reporters.

Iraq this August suspended all passenger flights to Belarus against the background of a difficult situation with illegal migrants on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border. Earlier, Lithuania declared an emergency regime due to the influx of migrants from the Middle East who enter the country from the territory of Belarus.

Later, the Dossier Center of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the German edition of Der Spiegel published documents confirming that the Belarusian authorities were involved in the migration crisis in Lithuania. The transportation of Iraqi citizens to the Belarusian-Lithuanian border was carried out with the participation of the state travel company Tsentrkurort, which is part of the Office of the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.