According to official data, prisons of Iraq and Syria contain nearly 600 women and children of Kyrgyzstan. So far, the return of children is discussed.
Kyrgyzstan is one of the last in Central Asia to repatriate its citizens from the Middle East. Kazakhstan was the first to evacuate women and children from Syria and Iraq in January 2019, and then carried out several special operations. In April of that year, Tajikistan evacuated 84 children from Iraq, and in October Uzbekistan returned 64 children.
Bishkek held the first and the only special operation ‘Meerim’ to get Kyrgyzstan children back from Iraq in March 2021.
According to official data, out of 79 returned children 50 were of school age, 17 – of kindergarten age, and 12 – at the age of 2-3. After the two-month rehabilitation with specialists, they were handed over to their relatives in Kara-Balta town, Aravan and Karasu districts of Osh region, as well as Osh city.
Information about them is highly confidential. One of eight children living in Osh is known to turn 18 this year and to be enrolled in the college. For others are known to attend school and three attend kindergarten.
According to Kuttubek Abdullaev, head of Osh City Office for Social Development, all returned children receive welfare benefit just like other children from vulnerable families. They all are supervised by social workers, city office workers and school counsellors. The information about the status of children in educational institutions is confidential. This information is available only to relevant bodies.
“During the repatriation of Kyrgyzstan children from Iraq, and then during their stay in the rehabilitation centre, our staff along with psychologists did their work. Then we did some paperwork and returned children to families. We stay in touch with guardians 24/7, monitor their living conditions, health, education. The only thing they miss is parents,” Abdullaev said.
According to him, fathers of many returned children were killed in combat areas, while mothers either died or are still in prisons of Iraq. Bagdad refused to hand them over to Kyrgyzstan, just like children older 18.
“Children who risked their life and health in conflict areas had a strong mental shock. But it’s finally over and they have returned to normal life,” Abdullaev said.
Right after the return, all children underwent a two-month rehabilitation. The Search for Common Ground organisation worked and keeps working with social workers, psychologists, local authorities and all those involved in working with repatriated children. According to Keneshbek Sainazarov, director of Central Asian programmes, even despite the short period of two months, the rehabilitation programme was comparatively satisfactory – all necessary materials, means and relevant institutions were prepared on time.
Complexities emerged at the reintegration state – not all families were willing to take repatriated children and no preliminary work was carried out with them.
“We had some problems when handing over the repatriated children to their relatives. For example, even if a child goes to their relatives, the family should be prepared to make it easier for the child to get used to the new environment, to get along well,” Sainazarov said.
He emphasised that the reintegration process takes more time than rehabilitation. It does not take two-three months. According to the expert, the role of psychologists, counsellors and social workers is very important here.
“I’m sorry mom, I’m in Syria”
Daughter of Kara-Balta resident Khamida Yakubova left for Syria in 2014. Since 2019, she, just like other Kyrgyzstanis, lives in the refugee camp “Al-Hawl” in Al-Hasakah district and hopes to get back home.
“In 2014, my daughter came to me to Russia and found a job. One day, she went to work and did not come back. One month before that, she had said that there was an Islamic University in Turkey with no tuition fee, they paid scholarship, and paid for air travel. She wanted to go there, but I did not allow her to. […] She continued to work, but once she disappeared. And two-three days later she wrote a text message, “I’m sorry mom, I’m in Syria,” Yakubova said.
According to her information, there are nearly 450 Kyrgyzstan women and children in Syria. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic Zheenbek Kulubaev at the end of July said that there were nearly 600 citizens of Kyrgyzstan in prisons of Iraq and Syria – 400 children and 200 women.
In response to CABAR.asia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that 43 convicted female citizens of Kyrgyzstan remain in prisons of Baghdad, who are not subject to repatriation, and also two children whose parents refused to have them back to Kyrgyzstan because of no relatives here. No exact information on the number of Kyrgyzstanis in Syria is reported.
Together with parents of other girls, Yakubova created the charity fund “Lend a helping hand”. They have made requests to all government agencies asking to help move their children out, but to no avail.
In March 2021, Sadyr Zhaparov during his visit to the children repatriated from Iraq said that the state would use their best efforts and any resources to ensure safety, life and health of its citizens staying abroad. After the president’s words, hope emerged that children and mothers staying in camps of Syria would come back soon. However, one year has passed since then.
But this June it became known that head of the cabinet of ministers Akylbek Zhaparov approved the plan of actions to repatriate citizens of Kyrgyzstan staying in camps and prisons of Syria. According to it, relevant agencies were assigned to explore the possibility of return of Kyrgyz citizens with the official authorities of Turkey and Syria, as well as of a visit of the delegation of the Kyrgyz Republic to Damascus to discuss the repatriation issues. Besides, they were commissioned to update the list of citizens of Kyrgyzstan staying in Syria, develop plans of their rehabilitation and reintegration.
In total, over 15 government agencies were commissioned with relevant tasks. Many of them had to be carried out in April-June this year.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the work is being done currently to perform the decree of Zhaparov. They do not report the details, but at the press conference at the end of July head of Foreign ministry Zheenbek Kulubaev said that negotiations on return of citizens to motherland were in progress. And he added that they spoke only about children, and no specific decisions on the return of women had been made.
Stigma
Journalist and expert of Prevention Media Almaz Ismanov has been investigating the situation around children and women staying in the camps of Syria and Iraq for three years. According to him, this issue is classified and there is too little information about the process of rehabilitation and reintegration.
“The lack or absence of verified information becomes in many cases the reason for hate speech in journalistic materials. It is important to explain to citizens why we return children and women, why we do this. Even state officials speaking at the Zhogorku Kenesh on this issue confuse with the names of the countries and numbers of those returned and dates,” Ismanov said.
Keneshbek Sainazarov has analysed information on citizens of Kyrgyzstan staying in the camps of Syria and Iraq for several years. He is concerned with the long-running process of return of women and children.
“In my opinion, there is a great stigma in the society. If a person moved to Syria or Iraq, they are “religious militants”. They say that if they get back, the society will be split and their return is a great threat. Such words can also be heard from some decision-makers. All right, we don’t speak about men, but we should return at least mothers and children because they moved there for various reasons and many of them were deceived,” Sainazarov said.
He said that some women could simply follow their spouses to Syria and Iraq according to Islamic principles. According to him, all circumstances should be identified and they should be returned to their homeland if no threats are found.
“There are no people who don’t make mistakes. We all make mistakes. But one mistake should not become punishment for life. These women may have made a mistake and moved there by fraud. We should get them here,” the expert said.