Turkey To Return Remains Of Refugees To Iraqi Kurdistan

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç has said the bodies of 13 migrants who drowned when their boat capsized last week in the Aegean Sea will be transferred to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) upon the Kurdish administration's request.
Bilgiç said in a statement on Tuesday that 23 Iraqi and two Syrian migrants who were rescued off of Turkey's western Foça coast can be sent to the KRG if they wish.
“We are working to quickly transfer the bodies upon the request of the KRG. The transportation process is about to be completed. Moreover, we will send the rescued migrants as soon as possible to the KRG if they wish. We are extending all the support we can to the KRG in this regard,” the statement read.
The boat, carrying 49 migrants, capsized off the coast of Foça on Jan. 21, and fishermen called the Turkish Coast Guard to come to the rescue. Twenty-five refugees were saved, while 13 migrants, five of whom were children, died and 11 went missing.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said the number of migrant and refugee deaths in the Mediterranean, so far, has already made this "the deadliest January on record."
The total number of arrivals in Europe by sea has risen to about 37,000 this month, more than six times the figure for the same month in 2014 and 2015 combined. January is usually a slow month due to bad weather.
Fleeing war, thousands of mainly Syrian refugees have braved rough seas to make the short, but precarious, journey from Turkey to Greece's islands, from which most continue to mainland Greece and northward into wealthier Western Europe. Winter conditions make the journey even more dangerous.

[Cihan/Today's Zaman]