Road Trip North Iraq: The Bridge to Turkey

On the first full day of our road trip along the border of Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, we visited the Ibrahim Khalil border complex, the main crossing point between Turkey and Iraq. Almost all of the trade between the two countries passes through this point -- some 5 billion dollars worth, not including the petroleum products that are piped or trucked through by the federal government in Baghdad.

Such is the importance of Ibrahim Khalil that it has a small contingent of American soldiers to monitor the shipment of supplies and fuel to US troops. They and some 200 others stationed in the nearby city of Zahko are among the only American soldiers in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

But Ibrahim Khalil could be a casualty of the growing teniosn between Turkey and Iraq's Kurds. In the event of a large-scale invasion by Turkish soldiers to attack bases operated by the PKK -- a Turkish rebel group at war with the Turkish state -- at least some of the Turkish army would have to pass through Ibrahim Khalil. Even if the Turks don't resort to such drastic action, they could still close their side of the border as punishment. The Turks accuse Iraq's Kurds of harboring the PKK, and have already stopped all flights into Iraqi Kurdistan, and placed sanctions on firms doing business with Massound Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government.

So far that tension hasn't reached the border crossing, where it's still business as
usual. About 900 trucks pass each day, 200 or so for the US Army. Border officials aren't concerned about Turkish threats. "If you believed the Turdish media, tanks would be rolling through here as we speak," said a security officer.

Still, even on a normal day, Ibrahim Khalil is a most unusual border crossing. Though it's an entryway into Iraq, there are no Iraqi flags, no Iraqi soldiers, and seemingly no Iraqi federal officials. The border is controlled the Kurdistan Regional Government, which enforces its own immigration and customs policies. The checkpoints are manned by Kurdish peshmerga soldiers, and the buildings are decorated with the red, white, green and gold flags of Iraqi Kurdistan.

The Turks worry that these signs of Kurdish autonomy are a prelude to an independent state, to which Turkey is implacably hostile. Kurdish security officials at the border told us that Turkish soldiers often harass Kurds who cross. They confiscate books or documents that use the word "Kurdistan" and deny passage to women named "Kurdistan" -- apparently it's a common female name -- or Kurds of foreign nationality who have "Kurdistan" listed in their passports as their place of birth. One official told a story about a German cyclist of Lebanese origin who had unwisely packed a Kurdistan flag in his bag and tried to cross into Turkey recently. The man was beaten so badly he couldn't walk, he said.

The Khbour river divides Turkey and Iraq at the Irahim Khalil border crossing, before it flows down into Iraq to join the the Euphrates River. A Kurdish pershmerga officer checks the passport of a taxi driver crossing the bridge to Turkey.

--Andrew Lee Butters/Ibrahim Khalil