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Iraq
An Iraqi employee at the general compensation department in Mosul speaks to civilians on June 15, 2020. Photo: Zaid al-Obeidi / AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Turkey is set to open a new office in the war-torn Mosul for the issue of visas to Iraqis seeking travel to the country, according to a statement from the Turkish embassy in Baghdad.
A private, accredited company in Mosul is to issue the visas to Iraqis, according to the embassy statement.
“The service will open on July 19, 2020,” the statement read.
The Turkish consulate in Mosul has been closed since June 2014, when consul Ozturk Yilmaz and 45 other local and Turkish personnel were abducted from the building by militants from the Islamic State (ISIS). Though the abductees were later released, the consulate has remain closed - despite several promises by Turkish officials to reopen it. Mosul residents have instead depended on Turkey’s visa office in the nearby city of Erbil.
Mosul was one of the first Iraqi areas which fell under the control of ISIS in 2014. It was liberated in late 2017, but sections of the city remain in ruin. The opening of the center comes nine days after Iraqis celebrated the third anniversary of the city's liberation.
Turkey-Iraq trade volume has stood at around $10 billion in recent years, but top Turkish officials have expressed their willingness to double this amount in recent meetings between the two countries. However, traffic between Iraq and Turkey is currently limited due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Most trade between the two countries moves through the Ibrahim Khalil border crossing, connecting Turkey to the Kurdistan Region’s Duhok province.
A private, accredited company in Mosul is to issue the visas to Iraqis, according to the embassy statement.
“The service will open on July 19, 2020,” the statement read.
The Turkish consulate in Mosul has been closed since June 2014, when consul Ozturk Yilmaz and 45 other local and Turkish personnel were abducted from the building by militants from the Islamic State (ISIS). Though the abductees were later released, the consulate has remain closed - despite several promises by Turkish officials to reopen it. Mosul residents have instead depended on Turkey’s visa office in the nearby city of Erbil.
Mosul was one of the first Iraqi areas which fell under the control of ISIS in 2014. It was liberated in late 2017, but sections of the city remain in ruin. The opening of the center comes nine days after Iraqis celebrated the third anniversary of the city's liberation.
Turkey-Iraq trade volume has stood at around $10 billion in recent years, but top Turkish officials have expressed their willingness to double this amount in recent meetings between the two countries. However, traffic between Iraq and Turkey is currently limited due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Most trade between the two countries moves through the Ibrahim Khalil border crossing, connecting Turkey to the Kurdistan Region’s Duhok province.
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