On the long black sofa in his home in the northern Iraqi town of Zakho, 40-year-old Kovan Bezihi sits dejected. The smell of spicy rice with beans wafting from the kitchen gives way to the smell of tobacco in the living room as soon as he lights another cigarette. Rain taps against the window, the stove burns inside.
The day before, Kovan landed at Erbil airport, along with nearly four hundred mainly Iraqi-Kurdish migrants. All decided to end their attempt to get into Europe via Belarus. Dressed in winter coats, and packed with large suitcases, backpacks and prams, the returnees from Minsk shuffled into the arrivals hall. The timid looks, tears and despair were captured by the flashing media cameras waiting for them.
I paid 25,000 euros to a smuggler, but when I arrived in Minsk he abandoned me
Kovan Bezihi, migrant from Iraqi Kurdistan
Kovan also felt a defeat when he arrived in the arrivals hall of the airport in his wheelchair, along with his five children and his wife. But above all he is furious. “I paid 25,000 euros to a people smuggler, but when I arrived in Minsk he abandoned me. He said ‘go walk to the border’.” Kovan smiles cynically. “How can I walk without legs?”
Due to his disability he cannot find work in Iraqi Kurdistan. There is hardly a social safety net. Living on an average of $100 every three months is an impossible task. “Waiting for your paycheck is like hoping for rain. You can only pray that it will come soon.”
No response from smuggler
Yet Kovan is not easily known. “Shall I call him now?” He picks up his phone from the coffee table. The smuggler has a WhatsApp image of a European map. All major cities are connected by a golden line, like a bustling web of connections. The phone is ringing. But even today Kozan is not heard. “I can whistle for my money,” he grumbles.
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In order to pay off his debt, Kovan will have to sell his house. Though that probably won’t be enough. „Don’t you want to move to Kurdistan? I’ll give you a good price.” Kovan laughs scornfully as he places the rice and beans, now served, on his plate. The room is filled with children, cousins and aunts. “This house has been in the family for three generations. But what else am I supposed to do.”
There was a dead silence in the packed plane on Thursday. “It was the sound of defeat, exhaustion, and relief,” says Hussain. He prefers not to use his last name in the newspaper. He is ashamed that the trip has not turned out as he had hoped. The 24-year-old psychologist and warehouse worker pulls up his hood and walks through the persistent rain in downtown Zakho in leather sandals. “I went to Minsk for my son’s future and return to Iraqi Kurdistan for him.”
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Kovan and Hussain both spent almost three months in Belarus. Sometimes they camped for days in tents at the border, sometimes they slept in an apartment in Minsk. Then it was just a matter of waiting for the next opportunity to cross the border. But after three months, the money ran out and hopes were gone. The flight back to Erbil put an end to the hopeless waiting in a foreign land. But once home, a new challenge awaits – how do you build a new life when you’ve lost everything?
“My house has been sold, but no one has moved in yet. I still have ten days to look for something else. Then the new owner comes.” Hussain puts his soaked sandals neatly by the front door and opens the kitchen door. The house is modern and large. The grand gold-plated spiral staircase reaches to the third floor. Dancing shadows of the net curtains appear on the walls of the kitchen as the sun breaks through the clouds briefly. But the rooms in his house are empty. “I didn’t think I would come back.” Hussain smiles, but his eyes radiate panic. And sadness.
Saved by an apple tree
Three times, Hussain and his family tried unsuccessfully to cross the border. His situation became desolate when they got stuck in the no man’s land on the border with Poland. Without food, without water. Polish police occasionally threw cookies over the fence, or canned beans. But this wasn’t nearly enough. “We depended on an apple tree we found for nine days. That tree saved us.”
Hussain had also been lied to by his smuggler. The car she was supposed to pick up at the border never showed up. But, unlike Kovan, Hussain has lost all his fighting spirit. “I have to start all over again. Back to the warehouse then.”
Belarus page 14-15
A version of this article also appeared in NRC in the morning of November 22, 2021
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