Iraq will discuss the issue of Syrian refugee return with the delegations of Russia, Iran and the United Nations during the Astana-14 talks on Syria latter on Wednesday, Haidar Athari, the Iraqi ambassador to Jordan and the head of the country's delegation to the meeting, told reporters
NUR-SULTAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th December, 2019) Iraq will discuss the issue of Syrian refugee return with the delegations of Russia, Iran and the United Nations during the Astana-14 talks on Syria latter on Wednesday, Haidar Athari, the Iraqi ambassador to Jordan and the head of the country's delegation to the meeting, told reporters.
The two-day Astana talks, which bring together representatives of Russia, Iran, Turkey, as well as the Syrian government and opposition, started in the Kazakh capital on Tuesday. Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq are present at the meeting as observer states.
"We discussed it [refugee issues] yesterday with the Lebanese. We have in Iraq 250,000 Syrian refugees. We call them guests, because they are our brothers. Most of them live in the Kurdistan area. We need to work very hard with other interested parties to provide a safe return to the refugees. Later on, I will have meetings with the Russians, Iranians and the UN delegation, then we will discuss it," Athari said.
Iraq is currently home to 234,831 Syrian refugees, according to the United Nations.
