Iraqi refugees return after Europe disappoints

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq (AP) — Surkaw Omar and Rebien Abdullah quit their jobs and spent their life savings to migrate to Europe, only to find crowded asylum camps, hunger and freezing weather.

Many of the hundreds of thousands of refugees heading to Europe have no choice but to brave such hardships because they hail from places gripped by war, where their lives are in danger.

[...] Omar and Abdullah come from Iraq's northern Kurdish region, which has been largely spared from fighting with the Islamic State group.

Some 70,000 Iraqis joined the tide of refugees and migrants seeking a better life in Europe last year, according to the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration.

Maurizio Albahari, an anthropology professor at Notre Dame University who studies migration to Europe, said a number of European countries are "actively seeking to discourage asylum-seekers from staying, at least indirectly."

Of the 4,305 Iraqis who received IOM assistance to return in all of 2015 and January 2016, a third returned to the Kurdish region.

[...] the war, along with plunging oil prices, has taken a heavy toll on the local economy.

Soran Omar, head of the human rights committee in the Kurdish regional parliament, said their experience is not uncommon.