Through co-operation, Balkan countries protect citizens in Iraq

Through co-operation, Balkan countries protect citizens in Iraq

Officials are assisting thousands of people from the Balkans who work in Iraq.

Balkan countries are co-operating to assist their citizens who work in Iraq and to address extremist terror threats coming from that country, experts said.

Serbia helped Macedonia assist its citizens through the Serbian embassy in Baghdad, and then sought assistance from Turkey when Belgrade decided to evacuate its embassy in late June.

"We had made an agreement with the Serbian embassy in Baghdad to help our citizens in times of need. But now, we are also talking to Turkey because they have a number of consulates in Iraq," Gabriel Atanasov, spokesman of the Macedonia foreign affairs ministry, told SETimes.

Atanasov said there is solidarity among everybody on the ground in Iraq, and Turkey has shown a willingness to offer assistance.

"Every type of assistance for the regional countries is welcome, especially when it comes to such a delicate issue as the safety of our citizens," Atanasov added. Macedonia opened a crisis centre following skirmishes around Baghdad and ISIL's offensive, which resulted with the capture of Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, last month.

The Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) foreign affairs ministry took a different approach and directed its citizens to seek assistance in the country's embassy in Amman, Jordan.

"We are contacting citizens ... and will undertake measures depending on the need and the development of the situation," said BiH ambassador to Jordan Darko Zelenika.

Zelenika added that the embassy has contacted international organisations in the region that work in Iraq to offer assistance in case of need...