According to Rudaw Arabi, the Ovakoy border, which connects Turkey directly to Iraq, was created following the events of the referendum on the independence of the Kurdistan Region in September 2017, and is 13 kilometers far from Ibrahim Khalil border.

Cavusoglu told a joint news conference with his Iraqi counterpart in Ankara that Turkey was taking steps to open the Ovakoy Fish Khabur border, and we will make assessments in particular talks between Baghdad, Erbil and Turkey without ignoring any of the parties.

The Turkish foreign minister stressed on the importance of starting the border crossing to turn Iraq into a regional border and strengthen trade between Erbil, Baghdad and Turkey and said: "The current volume of trade between the two countries is $ 17 billion and our goal is to make it reach $ 20 billion.

In 2017, following Turkey's threat to close Ibrahim Khalil border between Turkey and the Kurdistan Region, then-Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced that they had proposed opening the Ovakoy border and were awaiting a response from the Iraqi side.

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