Didar Omer, head of Erbil Province’s Passport Department, told Rudaw that “since September 24, the network connection of Erbil, Sulaimani, and Duhok provinces has stopped with Baghdad. Thus, passport-related work has stopped across the Kurdistan Region.”
His department has contacted Baghdad authorities concerning the issue, Omer said, and they were told that it was “a technical issue and not related to any other thing.”
Since the start of the year, 68,132 passports have been issued in Erbil province.
The passport network was severed a day before Kurdistan defied Baghdad’s opposition and held its referendum on independence from Iraq, After the vote, Baghdad has announced measures against the Region, including shutting borders and deploying troops to disputed areas.
