"At the moment, there are about 2 million refugees in Iraqi Kurdistan. They are mostly from internal regions of Iraq," Hoshavi Babakr said at a news conference at the Rossiya Segodnya press center in Moscow.
The party representative also added that the flow of refugees began when the extremist group Islamic State (IS) "started its offensive against Kurds, the Iraqi Army, when many had to flee from Mosul, Diyala, Tikrit, Ambar; from all the Sunni provinces, including Shiites, Turkmens and other national minorities."
Babakr added that the refugee situation in Iraqi Kurdistan is worsening with the coming of winter. "There are mountainous regions in Kurdistan. At night, the temperature falls significantly. Living in camps is not so easy."
The humanitarian situation in Iraq has deteriorated considerably since the IS, a Sunni jihadist group that has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012, seized control of Mosul in Iraq and announced the establishment of an Islamic caliphate across territories that fell under its control in June.
