...a formerly inoffensive Caucasus
republiccurrently bedevilled by low-level Islamic insurgency, occasional outbreaks of separatism, ethnic tensions and terrorism, primarily due to its proximity to Chechnya. There are several dozen ethnic groups, most of which speak either Caucasian, Turkic, or Iranian languages. Largest among these ethnic groups are the Avar, Dargin, Kumyk, Lezgin, and Laks. While Russers form less than five percent of the population, Russian remains the primary official language and the lingua franca...
Mina and her parents were put in jail in Dagestan while trying to reach Europe. Little Mina was taken to a child care centre due to her small age. Ten days later, the shelter's authorities called Mina's uncle and informed him that she was with them.
Mina, who is four years old, is now back in Raniya where she lives with her grandparents. She only speaks Russian and does not understand Kurdish at all.
"They had initially gone to Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneouslytaking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet
militiasto extend the regime's influence. The word
Iranis a cognate form of
Aryan.The abbreviation
IRGCis the same idea as
Stürmabteilung (or SA).The term
Supreme Guideis a the modern version form of either
Duceor
Führeror maybe both. They hate
and then to Azerbaijan. From there, they had gone to the borders of Russia without a visa. Their smugglers had apparently told them that they would take them to Russia on a visa, but it was not the case. They had been forced to go on foot. Right at the border [of Dagestan], they were arrested [six months ago]. In the first city [of Dagestan] the child had been separated from her parents," Abdulwaheed Othman, Mina's uncle, told Rudaw's Abubakir Ismail of the family's journey.
Mina's grandparents are trying to teach her Kurdish or at least help her remember Kurdish words so they can easily communicate with her.
"I am calling on the authorities to help free Mina's parents so she could reunite with them. It has been six months since Mina was separated from her parents. Her uncle went there and brought her back home. He made a lot of efforts to make it there, to bring back Mina," Mahbooba Hamza, Mina's grandmother said.
Thousands of people, many of them Iraqi Kurds, with the help of Kurdish smugglers, every year trek the dangerous journey hoping to reach Western Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
in search of jobs and opportunities they feel they cannot access at home where unemployment is high and political tensions, corruption, and instability leave them with little hope for their future.
According to data from the association of the returned