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The Ovaköy border gate project, which will directly ensure trade between Turkey and Iraq, has been given the green light. The border gate is an alternative to the Ibrahim Khalil (Habur) border crossing located between Turkey and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq.
A Turkish delegation will be assembled by Ankara and meet with the Iraqi side next week. It will compose of officials from the ministries of public works and highways, as well as security figures who will start intense contacts with Baghdad.
It is planned that the route of the trade road, which will pass through the Ovaköy-Tel Afar-Mosul-Baghdad line, will be fully determined in September. Following the evaluation of technical details, field works will begin.
Turkey to finance investments, ensure security
Turkey is set to finance the superstructure and infrastructure for the Ovaköy border gate and trade route. One other critical matter of the Ovaköy gate is “security,” which Turkey is also determined to secure. Contacts will also be initiated with the tribes living in the region on the Syria-Iraq border and the wealth Ovaköy will bring to the area will be conveyed. Locals are enthusiastic about the project which will boost cross border trade. After the public is properly informed about the Ovaköy route, all security measures will be taken.
International trade route
The new trade route will start from the bottom of the Syrian border in the west of Habur, pass near Tel Afar and through Mosul and pass by the Barzani district. The 120-kilometer stabilized road to be used for connection to the main road from Mosul will become an international trade route, thus Habur will lose its strategic significance.
The Ovaköy border gate, the second between Turkey and Iraq, has sent the United States into a state of panic. Brett McGurk, the U.S. special envoy for the fight against Daesh, held meetings with Iraqi politicians.McGurk has recently been meeting with different sections of Iraqi politics. On Tuesday, McGurk met with Nechirvan Barzani, the prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). He also met with various Turkmen, Arab, Kurdish and Christian representatives.McGurk has held meetings in Mosul, Kirkuk, Erbil, Tal Afar and Sinjar, in which he asked tribes to back the clearing of Baghdad’s forces and their replacement by American troops and the Peshmerga.Feasibility studies for Turkey-Iraq Ovaköy Border Gate to begin in SeptMcGurk suggests Tal Afar Airport become U.S. baseDuring his meeting in Kirkuk, McGurk alleged that Tal Afar would be cleared of Iraqi forces and come under U.S. control. He added that Iranian soldiers and Hashd Shaabi militias stationed at Tel Afar military airport would be cleared by U.S. troops.U.S. troops on borderThree other top U.S. officials participated in the meetings, in which they stated that the Turkey-Syria border would be delivered to the Peshmerga through the help of U.S. troops. While Brett McGurk was in the region for four days, a U.S. foreign affairs and defense delegation remained in northern Iraq for another week and continued to meet with different groups.Occupation spans KirkukThe splitting of controversial areas was also discussed in the meetings. McGurk said that 40,000 pro-Iran militias were currently in Mosul and Kirkuk, 80 percent of whom were Shiite.McGurk offered to cooperate with all segments in order to clear the region of Hashd Shaabi militias. He added that the next step was Kirkuk and that the town would be delivered to the Peshmerga.Erdoğan: Second border gate to benefit Turkey, IraqAttempt to sabotage Ovaköy border gateExperts have dubbed McGurk’s meetings as an attempt to sabotage the Ovaköy border gate. The Ovaköy border gate, an alternative to the Ibrahim Khalil border crossing located between Turkey and the Kurdish region in northern Iraq, will bypass the Barzani administration.The U.S. seeks to position troops in border areas and then deliver these areas to the Peshmerga to serve two purposes: firstly, to prevent the Ovaköy border gate project; and secondly, to continue to protect the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and deliver weapons to its Syrian extension, the Democratic Union Party (PYD).Following a feasibility study and an agreement on the route, the Ovaköy Border Gate will be given the green light.US attempts to sabotage Ovaköy border gate between Turkey, IraqThe border gate will also cut off the weapons supply of the PKK terror group.Washington, which is currently using the Ibrahim Khalil border crossing to supply weapons to terrorists from the PKK in Syria, is afraid of losing its terror card in the region and is trying to stop the Ovaköy Border Gate project.The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.
US envoy holds slew of meetings in Iraq to halt Ovaköy border gate