KRG to petition Baghdad to remove federal customs points in Kirkuk
The KRG interior ministry will make the request at a meeting with relevant Iraqi customs authorities in the near future in Erbil, said Samal Abdulrehman, the general manager of the KRG’s customs office.
"There are many questions to discuss and one of the main demands we raise will be for the removal of the two customs points connecting Kirkuk to the Kurdistan Region," he said.
He reiterated the KRG stance that the customs points are illegal and "laws do not allow them."
Iraq set up the checkpoints in September at the request of Kirkuk’s acting Governor Rakan Saeed al-Jabouri following the route’s reopening this summer.
The Kirkuk Provincial Council, which comprised of a majority of the Kurdish Brotherhood Alliance, has that it was unaware of Jabouri’s request at the gates of its province and believes the “illegal” decision is politically motivated.
Under the Iraqi constitution, Kirkuk is a disputed province. Its provincial council is the only body or entity that can remove or appoint a governor.
Erbil and Baghdad have long disputed control and revenue at international customs points and their revenues. Baghdad has demanded for Erbil to hand over the Ibrahim Khalil land border crossing with Turkey.
The two governments came to an agreement over the administration of Sulaimani and Erbil’s international airports after six months of closure to international flights from September 29, 2017, until March 14, 2018.
When Kurds controlled Kirkuk prior to the events of October 2017, Baghdad had a customs point between Baghdad and the disputed city. Business owners often complained of being taxed twice.
Some drivers chose the longer and more dangerous mountainous routes to travel between Sulaimani and Erbil because of the federal government’s decision.
Activists in Kirkuk have called for a one-hour workers’ strike on October 16 in protest of the militarization of the city and the way it is administered.
Rudaw
