Kurdish postal services suffer as Baghdad’s embargo bites
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Postal service officials in the Kurdistan Region have noticed a drop in the amount of mail being sent abroad. The Iraqi government recently asked the Universal Postal Union not to deal with the Region’s postal services.
Baghdad has meanwhile filed a lawsuit against the KRG’s Minister of Transport and Communications in the Rasafah court for an allegedly unpaid debt.
The Universal Postal Union is an agency of the United Nations that coordinates postal policies among member nations and the worldwide postal system.
Baghdad’s grounding of all international flights from the Kurdistan Region, following September’s independence referendum, also seems to have had an impact on the quantity of mail handled by post offices.
“Currently nothing is being sent abroad. Nothing,” Ghariba Mohammed, director of Sulaimani’s post office, told Rudaw.
Many kinds of goods are normally shipped by their offices, but now services have been seriously hampered, she added.
The center was established in 2007 through an agreement between Baghdad and Erbil. Goods were sent to the farthest corners of the world with Kurdistan postage stamps, according to officials. The annual revenue of the Kurdistan Region’s postal services ran to two billion Iraqi dinars.
“We worked for our postal service to reach a level that made us proud. It reached [such] a level that citizens started trusting Kurdistan’s post [office]. In 2007, when we sent [goods] through Baghdad, we had only half a ton. But last year we had 123 tons,” Umed Mohammed Saleh, director of Erbil’s post office, told Rudaw.
He has noticed a decline, however. “The year before we had 137 tons,” Saleh added.
Meanwhile, Iraq has filed a lawsuit against Mawlud Bawamurad, the Minister of Transport and Communications for the Kurdistan Region, in the Rasafah court, claiming the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) owes Baghdad three billion Iraqi dinars.
“We [the Kurdistan postal service] obtained authorization to pay them one billion [Iraqi dinars]. I have a document signed by me and the Director General of Iraq’s post office that the rest of the money be divided into two installments – an installment [to be paid] in 2018, and the other [to be paid] in 2019,” Saleh said.
He said that bureaucratic routines and a shortage of money in the Kurdistan Region prevented them from paying Iraq sooner.
Baghdad has shown willingness to allow the KRG to send post through its regional airports, so long as it uses Iraqi postage stamps. The KRG said it would not adopt Iraqi stamps.
The Iraqi government announced on Monday it would extend the flight ban on the Kurdistan Region’s airports by another three months.
Baghdad has meanwhile filed a lawsuit against the KRG’s Minister of Transport and Communications in the Rasafah court for an allegedly unpaid debt.
The Universal Postal Union is an agency of the United Nations that coordinates postal policies among member nations and the worldwide postal system.
Baghdad’s grounding of all international flights from the Kurdistan Region, following September’s independence referendum, also seems to have had an impact on the quantity of mail handled by post offices.
“Currently nothing is being sent abroad. Nothing,” Ghariba Mohammed, director of Sulaimani’s post office, told Rudaw.
Many kinds of goods are normally shipped by their offices, but now services have been seriously hampered, she added.
The center was established in 2007 through an agreement between Baghdad and Erbil. Goods were sent to the farthest corners of the world with Kurdistan postage stamps, according to officials. The annual revenue of the Kurdistan Region’s postal services ran to two billion Iraqi dinars.
“We worked for our postal service to reach a level that made us proud. It reached [such] a level that citizens started trusting Kurdistan’s post [office]. In 2007, when we sent [goods] through Baghdad, we had only half a ton. But last year we had 123 tons,” Umed Mohammed Saleh, director of Erbil’s post office, told Rudaw.
He has noticed a decline, however. “The year before we had 137 tons,” Saleh added.
Meanwhile, Iraq has filed a lawsuit against Mawlud Bawamurad, the Minister of Transport and Communications for the Kurdistan Region, in the Rasafah court, claiming the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) owes Baghdad three billion Iraqi dinars.
“We [the Kurdistan postal service] obtained authorization to pay them one billion [Iraqi dinars]. I have a document signed by me and the Director General of Iraq’s post office that the rest of the money be divided into two installments – an installment [to be paid] in 2018, and the other [to be paid] in 2019,” Saleh said.
He said that bureaucratic routines and a shortage of money in the Kurdistan Region prevented them from paying Iraq sooner.
Baghdad has shown willingness to allow the KRG to send post through its regional airports, so long as it uses Iraqi postage stamps. The KRG said it would not adopt Iraqi stamps.
The Iraqi government announced on Monday it would extend the flight ban on the Kurdistan Region’s airports by another three months.