KRG hands over main crossing with Turkey to Baghdad government
The KRG handed over the main border gate between Iraq and Turkey to the central government, which was a prerequisite from Baghdad to begin talks with Irbil following conflicts between Iraqi forces and KRG peshmerga over contested areas
THE KURDISTAN Regional Government (KRG) transferred the control of the Ibrahim Khalil border crossing, the main passage between Turkey and northern Iraq, to Baghdad yesterday.
Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) reported that Turkish and Iraqi military units, which have been conducting joint drills since Sept. 18, left their barracks and moved to the Iraqi side of the border.
The Doğan News Agency reported that that the Ibrahim Khalil border gate will be handed over to Baghdad in a ceremony attended by Iraqi Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Othman al-Ghanmi and Lt. Gen. Ismail Temel, the commander of Turkey's Second Army, which is in charge of guarding the country's southern and eastern borders with Syria, Iraq and Iran.
The border gate, which is located across the border from southeastern Turkey's Habur customs gate in Şırnak’s Silopi district, is of crucial importance for bilateral trade between the two countries, which includes oil imports with tankers.
The Kirkuk-Ceyhan oil pipeline connecting northern Iraqi oil fields with a Turkish oil terminal on the Mediterranean also passes west of the border crossing before entering Turkey.
PM, MHP LEADER SAY BARZANI GOT WHAT WAS COMING TO HIM
Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said yesterday that KRG President Masoud Barzani’s resignation was expected after the KRG’s controversial independence referendum, citing previous warnings from Ankara.
“We said before that the individuals who held the referendum should pay the price and we said they can’t continue to govern there. Now they had to step down,” Yıldırım said at the Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) weekly parliamentary group meeting.
With the belief that the referendum would ignite violence in the country and possibly bear implications for the greater region, Ankara had repeatedly warned the KRG take a step back. Ankara, Tehran and Baghdad strongly opposed the decision, stressing the significance of Iraq’s territorial integrity.
Yıldırım said that this development would provide opportunities to enhance the economic ties with Iraq and that Turkish “vehicles passing the border will continue their way from Baghdad to Basra.”
The prime minister said there will not be any illegal taxes or arbitrary checking on the other side of the border and that no problem was faced during the handover of the border gate.
“We called the referendum null and void and stressed that all the airports and border gates should be under the control of the Iraqi central government,” he said, reiterating Ankara’s firm stance against the referendum since the decision was first announced.
Commenting on Barzani’s resignation, opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Cairman Devlet Bahçeli said that Barzani is experiencing the consequences of his decision. Bahçeli slammed Barzani for saying that the KRG made all necessary preparations for Kirkuk.
The MHP chairman said that Barzani’s resignation will not be sufficient to ensure stability in the region. “Iraq’s territorial and political integrity should be preserved and supported,” he said.
He further stressed that Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi’s visit to Ankara constitutes an important aspect of efforts to protect peace in the region. He said that after cleansing the region of the PKK and decreasing the KRG peshmerga’s clout in the region, the rights of Turkmens should be on the table.
“Turkmens should have a special status provided by Iraq’s historical background, cultural values, peace and brotherhood,” Bahçeli said, adding that he expects that cooperation between Turkey and Iraq will benefit Turkmens.
Baghdad deemed the KRG independence referendum unconstitutional and launched operations to retake control of disputed areas, including Kirkuk. Iraqi forces seized a swathe of disputed territory in the north from Iraqi Kurdish fighters.
‘US WELCOME’S BARZANI’S RESIGNATION’
On Monday, the U.S. commended Barzani’s decision to resign, urging the Iraqi central government and the KRG to solve their differences peacefully.
"We call on all Kurdish parties to support the KRG as it works to resolve pending issues over the remainder of its term and prepare for elections in 2018," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement. She urged Iraq and the KRG "to work urgently to resolve pending issues under the Iraqi constitution."
Speaking on the latest developments, Saadi Ahmet Pira, spokesman of Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), said that conflict with the Iraqi military was the result of a “miscalculation of the referendum results.”
“We ignored the reaction of countries in the region, particularly Turkey and Iran. They gave support to the Iraqi government against the peshmerga on the issue of contested areas. This support frightens us, especially for the future,” Pira said.
Following the controversial independence referendum in the KRG and disputed regions, Iraqi forces and allied, predominantly, Shiite Hashd al-Shaabi militias moved to force the KRG out of disputed areas, which include oil-rich city of Kirkuk, the town of Khanaqin near the border with Iran and Sinjar near the border with Syria.
Baghdad also demanded Irbil hand control of all airports and customs gates, including Ibrahim Khalil, which had been under KRG control since 1991.
The move came after Iraqi and KRG officials met in Mosul to resolve the dispute with the U.S. mediating the talks.
Three Iraqi officials also confirmed to the media that the border gate has been brought under Iraqi control. One of the officials showed the Reuters news agency pictures of the Iraqi flag being raised at the border gate where Iraqi and Turkish soldiers were deployed and Turkish flags were also hoisted.
"We have raised the Iraqi flag over the border crossing with Turkey today and it is officially under the full control of the Iraqi government," one of the officials, border police Capt. Ali Abdul Ilah said.
However, KRG officials denied the crossing had been handed over.
"Negotiations are still ongoing," a KRG official in the capital Irbil said.
Amid heavy pressure from the international community on Iraq's neighbors, the KRG retreated from contested areas without significant resistance. However, Iraqi forces and KRG peshmerga units have been involved in clashes in the strategic area located northwest of Mosul, upstream of the Mosul Dam Lake on the Tigris River, which had been providing the KRG with a connection to Syria and control over Iraq's link to Turkey.
With the Turkish and Iraqi move, the supply line between the KRG and northeastern Syria, which is under control of the PKK terrorist group Syrian affiliate Democratic Union Party (PYD), will also be cut.