Around 500 Tajik citizens stranded in Syrian refugee camps

AKIPRESS.COM - Around 500 nationals of Tajikistan are stranded in Syria. 286 of them are women and children ready to return home, Avesta reported citing Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin.
Representatives of the Embassy of Tajikistan in Kuwait travel to Syria to hold talks for repatriation of Tajik citizens. The talks are held with the Syrian government and representatives of opposition forces, since a part of camps is on territory under their control.
The talks are also held with the International Foundation of Red Cross, who expressed readiness to help with determination of exact number of Tajik citizens.
"Due to coronavirus pandemic, the return of citizens to Tajikistan remains open. Besides, there is no information on number of citizens in those camps who caught coronavirus," the Minister said.
84 children were airlifted from Iraq to Dushanbe in April 2019. These are children of Tajik militants, who joined the Islamic State and other extremist organizations. Their fathers were killed in the operations against the Islamic State. Their mothers were imprisoned in Iraq for aiding terrorists.