Kurdistan Region truck drivers find employment during coronavirus crisis

DUHOK, Kurdistan Region – The coronavirus pandemic outbreak has shifted thousands of jobs to truck drivers in the Kurdistan Region.

The Ibrahim Khalil international border crossing, which bridges Turkey to the Kurdistan Region's Duhok province, has been closed to tourists and truckers alike since the coronavirus outbreak.

Now, Turkish truck drivers have to transfer their cargo to drivers from the region for goods to be delivered to cities like Erbil, Sulaimani and Halabja.

While many people have lost their income as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, 3,000 new jobs within the trucking industry have become available since the coronavirus outbreak, according to authorities at the Ibrahim Khalil border crossing.

“Since yesterday, I came to work and there were 3-4 loads to carry, in the past there were no loads.” Said Majeed Rafih, a truck driver.

Some truck drivers have abandoned their own trucks and taken up Turkish ones, which has become a good source of income. Truck driver, Masoud Sabah, says, “I own a truck. In the past I used to take a cargo with my truck to Erbil for $220, but now, I work as a driver and drive Turkish trucks for $250-300.”

Gheidan, a father of 8, is from Erbil’s Kalakchi sub-district. He is glad he can earn more money for his family during this stressful time.

“Our cargo is largely animal feed.  We deliver it and return. Our work has improved. In the past, we would go ten to twenty days without work. Now, we have work every day," said Gheidan.

However, the situation for the truck drivers in Turkey has faired the opposite. Abdullah Ozgol is from southeastern Turkey, known to Kurds as northern Kurdistan. He has been jobless for a month. He wishes the border crossing would be reopened.

”If we don’t drive the trucks, Iraqi drivers will take them and they are not familiar with them. We are in need of them, we’re in a bad situation,” said Abdullah.

According to border crossing officials, more than one thousand truck cargos worth of food are imported from Turkey everyday.

With reporting by Yousif Musa