Clashes between protestors and security forces erupted after hundreds of Kurdish truck drivers took to the streets near the International Ibrahim Khalil border crossing on the Zakho road, demanding a cancellation of the interior ministry decision, which they say harms their livelihoods.
In an attempt to control the spread of coronavirus, the KRG had in previous months required truck drivers from Turkey to transfer their cargo to domestic drivers at the border near Zakho for delivery to cities like Erbil, Sulaimani and Halabja. Many of those protesting are said to have taken up jobs in the vocation during this period, when employment opportunities were limited.
Turkey continues to prevent truck drivers from the Kurdistan Region entrance, requiring its own citizens usher the goods to their final destination from the border.
"Turkey does not accept our truckers to cross to Silopi to get goods from there to the Kurdistan Region. Then why should we let their truckers bring their cargo and freely move here?," one trucker asked Rudaw at Wednesday’s demonstration.
The KRG Ministry of Interior announced on Wednesday that they would begin re-allowing Turkish truckers into the Kurdistan Region from 7 pm onwards.
"Eleven people were wounded including nine members of security forces and two truckers," Amin Ali, spokesperson of the Zakho Health Directorate, told Rudaw late Wednesday, adding that the injuries were minor, and inflicted by sticks and rocks.
Hevidar Ahmed, a Kurdish MP from Zakho, noted, "we received the message of the protesters and I believe the prime minister will make a decision in favor of the people of Zakho," speaking to Rudaw Wednesday.
"The prime minister is on the line and has urged the security forces to responsibly react to the angry truckers," he said.
Footage circulating on social media show the demonstration turning violent and gunshots can be heard.
More than 1,700 truckers from Zakho make a living from their job at the border crossing, according to Ahmed.
The Ibrahim Khalil international border crossing, which bridges Turkey to the Kurdistan Region's Duhok province and even the rest of Iraq, has been closed to tourists since the onset of the coronavirus in early March. But in early August the ministry of the interior announced that the crossing will be open for commercial traffic.
According to border crossing officials, more than one thousand truck cargos worth of food are imported from Turkey everyday.
