Iraq, Turkey advance trade route bypassing Kurdistan Region’s main border gateway

BAGHDAD — Iraq and Turkey are moving to activate the Fishkhabur-Ovakoy border crossing and connect it to the Development Road, advancing a route that would give federal Iraq a direct trade link with Turkey while bypassing the Kurdistan Region’s main Ibrahim Khalil-Habur crossing.

An Iraqi delegation led by Border Ports Authority chief Omar Adnan Al-Waeli held talks in Ankara on Wednesday with Turkish officials on implementing a July 28 memorandum covering rail and road transport through Fishkhabur-Ovakoy, the authority said.

The meetings focused on moving from planning to implementation using routes, maps and locations already studied by technical committees from both countries. The memorandum calls for coordination on a new border crossing, expanded rail and road capacity and related infrastructure, with a joint committee assigned to follow implementation.

The planned Fishkhabur-Ovakoy connection has drawn attention because Ibrahim Khalil, in the Kurdistan Region, is currently the main land crossing for trade between Iraq and Turkey. The new route would create an alternative corridor tied directly to the federal government’s Development Road project and could shift part of northbound trade and transit away from the existing Kurdish-administered gateway.

The Border Ports Authority said the Ankara meetings did not establish new agreements but were intended to activate commitments already reached between the two governments. An Iraqi technical delegation also conducted a visit in late August to prepare for implementation.

The July memorandum, signed between Iraq’s Transport Ministry and Turkey’s Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, provides for cooperation on a new crossing to increase rail and highway capacity and accelerate construction of associated infrastructure.

Al-Waeli was accompanied by the directors general of Iraq’s land transport and railway authorities. The Iraqi delegation met officials at Turkey’s Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, as well as representatives of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, presidency and Defense Ministry.

The Fishkhabur-Ovakoy connection is planned as the northern gateway of the Development Road, a rail and highway corridor intended to link Iraq’s southern ports with Turkey and onward to European markets.

Iraqi officials have previously said the wider Development Road is not intended to exclude the Kurdistan Region, but the choice of Ovakoy would nonetheless provide Baghdad with an alternative to the Ibrahim Khalil-Habur route for trade with Turkey.

The Border Ports Authority said the latest push followed years of limited progress on the proposed connection, with the current government seeking to turn previous understandings with Turkey into construction and transport projects.

The Development Road is intended to connect southern ports with Baghdad, northern Iraq and the Turkish border through new and upgraded rail and highway infrastructure, alongside industrial and logistics zones.