Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced on Tuesday that his government plans to pay soon the salaries of Kurdish Peshmerga forces and public servants who are on the payroll of the Kurdistan Regional Government.
“We will soon be able to pay all the salaries of the Peshmerga and the employees of the region,” Abadi said during a press conference.
Meanwhile, the administration of the international Ibrahim Khalil crossing between the Kurdistan Region, Iraq and Turkey denied on Tuesday the deployment of any Iraqi armed units from the Iraqi side of the crossing, adding that conditions there were very normal with no changes in its administration.
Ibrahim Khalil border crossing Security Director Abdul Wahab Mohammed told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The crossing is still under the administration of the Kurdistan Regional Government. There is no presence of any employee from the Iraqi government in the crossing, and there were no changes in the administration.”
He said that Iraqi Army Chief of Staff Othman al-Ghanimi and head of the intelligence had visited the crossing on Tuesday morning on their way to Turkey. He said both men travelled to Turkey to check on the Iraqi soldiers currently present in the Turkish side of the border.
“The passage of the Iraqi military delegation through the Ibrahim Khalil crossing was held in coordination with the Peshmerga forces.
Mohammed also said that the Iraqi flag was always flying at the border crossing next to the flag of the Kurdistan Region.
Earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that the Iraqi central government has been handed over the Habur border gate.
“We will start to put into action another border gate through Tal Afar in the short term, in agreement with the Iraqi government,” Yildirim said.
Tal Afar is located some 40 kilometers west of Mosul.
Separately, the Iraqi cabinet voted Tuesday on a decision to hold the next parliamentary elections next May 15.
“Voting must be electronic, and parties participating in the election must not have armed wings," the government said in a statement.
