Iraqis buy life jackets for trip to Europe’s distant shores
BAGHDAD (AFP) — Ali’s friends told him to bring a life jacket, so the young Iraqi man headed to a Baghdad sports shop and bought a bright orange one with a whistle attached.
He wore shorts and a Tshirt, but was not planning a vacation or a day at the beach. Ali sees no future for himself in Iraq and intends to make the perilous sea journey to Europe that has claimed thousands of lives this year.
The trip by sea in overcrowded boats begins on the Turkish coast more than 1,500 kilometers from Baghdad, but Ali and other Iraqis are preparing in advance, driving a major increase in life jacket sales.
Born the year Saddam Hussein’s forces invaded Kuwait, Ali lived through that war, a decade of punishing sanctions, years of fighting between USled forces and insurgents, and the conflict with the Islamic State jihadist group, which overran large parts of Iraq last year. He has had enough.
“I want to immigrate to any place that is better than this country,” Ali said. “Greece, Germany... any country.”
“The important thing is that I leave Iraq, because there is no life in Iraq,” he said. “There is no safety in Iraq... and no employment.”
Some of his friends already reached Greece and have encouraged him to come as well, telling him to bring a life jacket when he does.
Smugglers may not provide enough life jackets, and while estimates of costs vary, they are said to be much cheaper in Iraq than in Turkey.
Many Iraqis are making the trip, with more than 9,000 arriving in Greece between January and the end of August this year, the fifth-largest group by nationality, according to the International Organization for Migration.