KRG-Turkey border crossing remains open, says Duhok governor

ZAKHO, Kurdistan Region—Kurdish border and customs officials said on Saturday that the main crossing between the Kurdistan Region and Turkey remains open despite Friday night’s military coup attempt in Ankara and the unfolding events.

Duhok governor Farhad Atrushi told Rudaw that traffic and crossings on Ibrahim Khalil that connects the Kurdistan Region to Turkey “remains normal like any other day and will not be closed,”

The Ibrahim Khalil bridge is the Kurdish region’s main gateway to Turkey and the outside world carrying billions of dollars of trade and passenger crossing between the two countries each year.

An attempted coup by a group from the Turkish military against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the cities of Istanbul and Ankara and the closing down of its main airports on Friday brought Turkey to a halt.

However, Erdogan appeared on live TV hours later where he denounced the coup as treason and pledged to punish those involved in the attempt.