17 August 2018 - 19:48

Turkey plans to open new border gate with Iraq

<p style="text-align:left">Turkey aims to open a new border gate with Iraq in order to allow it to trade with its southern neighbor and bypass territory controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq, pro-government Star newspaper said.

A technical team will make a detailed analysis in the first week of October and trace out a route to Baghdad from the proposed location, the newspaper said, adding that Turkey would pay for the necessary infrastructure for the route.

The most critical issue was security, the newspaper said, but another issue was that the United States opposed the new route.

The U.S.-backed Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria used the area as a reinforcement point, and the United States could pressure Iraq not to allow the new route, the report added.

Reporter’s code: 50101

News Code 24846