Arbil: the departure terminal for Iraq’s exodus
Iraq's gateway to Europe, the northern city of Arbil, is the first bottleneck on a long and uncertain journey for a growing number of Iraqis choosing exile. "We're selling a lot of one-way tickets these days. More than ever. People are desperate," said Emre Shawkat, who runs a tourism transport business in Arbil, capital of Iraq's […]Iraq's gateway to Europe, the northern city of Arbil, is the first bottleneck on a long and uncertain journey for a growing number of Iraqis choosing exile. "We're selling a lot of one-way tickets these days. More than ever. People are desperate," said Emre Shawkat, who runs a tourism transport business in Arbil, capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.
In 2014, tens of thousands of Iraqis fled when the Islamic State jihadist group launched an onslaught that overran large areas and brought the country to the brink of breakup. The militants have carried out atrocities from beheadings and mass executions to enslavement and rape in the territory they control in Iraq and in neighbouring Syria.
