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Presidents of Lithuania, Iraq, Turkey discuss control over migration via Belarus

Since the beginning of the year, over 4,000 illegal migrants have been detained on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border which is almost 50 times more than during the entire year in 2020

VILNIUS, August 13. /TASS/. Lithuanian president Gitanas Nauseda has discussed measures for controlling illegal migration to the Baltic republic from Asian and African countries via the territory of Belarus in a phone conversation with his Turkish and Iraqi counterparts Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Barham Salih, the Lithuanian leader’s press service reported on Friday.

"President Nauseda has asked the Turkish president to use his authority in the region and caution other states not to believe the promises of an easy route to illegally infiltrate the EU [via Lithuania] and not to get involved in the schemes of criminal structures organizing illegal migration," the statement said.

The Lithuanian president reiterated to his Iraqi counterpart that the citizens of this Middle Eastern country constitute a majority (according to the Lithuanian side, two-thirds) of illegal immigrants entering Lithuania and urged Baghdad to accelerate the procedures of returning them home. "The president expressed his gratitude over the decision of the Iraqi government to suspend regular passenger flights to Belarus and to organize expatriation flights," the press service noted.

Since the beginning of the year, over 4,000 illegal migrants have been detained on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border which is almost 50 times more than during the entire year in 2020. At the end of May, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko stated that his country served as a barrier on the path of human trafficking to neighboring countries, however, considering the West’s political pressure, Minsk may think twice about continuing to block the flow.

Lithuania characterized the situation as a migration crisis. Meanwhile, according to the report of the European Asylum Support Office, over the first half of this year, Germany has registered 47,231 asylum petitions from the migrants, with 32,212 asylum petitions recorded in France and 25,823 petitions in Spain.