ZAKHO, Kurdistan Region – The office of the Kurdish-controlled Ibrahim Khalil land gate with Turkey has said in a statement on Wednesday that they have not relinquished the border crossing to Iraqi authorities, a day after the Turkish government allowed the Iraqi army to open a checkpoint between the Turkish and Kurdish sides, meaning that trade and movements of people must now be inspected at three checkpoints.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, and Turkish counterpart Binali Yildirim have separately said that the federal government will be in control of the Kurdish and Turkish border and that the move is constitutional.
Border traffic continues as normal, according to the Kurdish statement, adding that the law does not allow neither the Peshmerga or the Iraqi military to take control of any border crossing, including Ibrahim Khalil, also called Habur on the Turkish side.
The gate has been under the Kurdish control since the establishment of the Kurdistan Regional Government following the First Gulf War in 1991. It is the main Kurdish gateway to world markets where the trade exchange totals in the billions of dollars. The crossing is located in the undisputed and constitutionally recognized Kurdistan Region.
The Iraqi government has demand that Erbil hand over all international entry points, including the two Kurdish airports of Erbil and Sulaimani, as part of its measures against the Kurdish government following an overwhelming vote for independence from Iraq held on September 25.
The Iraqi and Kurdish militaries have held a series of talks since an October 27 ceasefire announced by the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. But no final agreements have been made regarding the fate of Iraqi forces being deployed to all disputed or Kurdistani areas and border crossings.
The Kurdish Peshmerga insist that the Iraqi government respect a US-brokered agreement that stipulates the Peshmerga to keep all areas it was in control before the Mosul offensive in October 2016. Iraq, emboldened by the takeover of Kirkuk and elsewhere in the disputed areas since October 16, is demanding to roll back Peshmerga to the so-called Green Line that was in place between the two before the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The United States have called on both Erbil and Baghdad to begin talks under the Iraqi constitution, while the United Kingdom called for a timeline for the talks to begin. France, with whom the Kurds have had good relations, has also pushed for such conversations.
Erbil has made a compromise by offering to freeze the Kurdish vote for independence in return for open dialogue with Baghdad, but this has been rejected by PM Abadi who demanded the vote be annulled before any talks begin.
Turkey's presidency on Wednesday has again called on the Kurdistan Region to declare the vote null and void.
The Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Ankara will continue its relations with the Kurdistan Region taking into account recent developments in Iraq, adding that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will see Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani at an opportune time.
No Turkish-Iraqi forces at Ibrahim Khalil gate with Turkey, officials
