Turkey Calls on Iran’s Customs to Help Transfer of Goods to Iraq

Yardim made the remarks during a meeting with the head of Iran’s Customs Office, Masoud Karbasian, which was held to discuss the increasing problems at the borders of the two countries.

The Turkish diplomat called on the Iranian Customs Office to allow trucks to transfer goods from Mehran border to Iraq due to the country’s crisis and closure of the Iraqi-Turkish border.

During the meeting, Karbasian said the problems have occurred because of non-implementation of agreements on customs cooperation signed between Iran and Turkey over the past years.

“Expert delegations from both sides should go to the common border and implement the agreements in the next ten days,” he stated.

He went on to say that one of the reasons behind the formation of long queues in Bazargan-Gurbulak Border is the limited facilities at other common borders.

Turkish trucks formed an 11km-long queue of 880 vehicles, at a crossing on the border with Iran at Gurbulak, near the Turkish city of Agri, which is an alternative route to Baghdad and southern Iraq.

However, the route adds more than 1,000km to the journey and costs an extra $2,000 per truck, according to Turkey’s International Transporters’ Union, which represents drivers, according to the Financial Times.

Iraq has been witnessing a new wave of violence fueled by Takfiri terrorists. The ISIL militants have been operating in the Iraqi provinces of Nineveh, Diyala, Salahuddin and al-Anbar.

Over the past days, the Iraqi Army has launched massive airstrikes to battle the Takfiri terrorists in northern areas.