Ovaköy border gate project in Shengal?

The Turkish state is trying to implement the Ovaköy Border Gate project, which it prepared to reach Mosul and Kirkuk, by including the KDP and the USA.

It is reported that Turkish state is trying to implement the Ovaköy Border Gate project, which it prepared to reach Mosul and Kirkuk, by including the KDP and the USA.

The first step of the project, which is a choice between two evils for Rojava and Bashûr, has been taken in Shengal.

It is stated that two other actors of the Shengal agreement, which the KDP and the Iraqi government signed under the auspices of the United Nations (UN), are indeed the Turkish state and the USA.

The Ovaköy Border Gate project, which the Turkish state introduced after the independence referendum in South Kurdistan in 2017, starts from the border triangle of Rojava-South and Northern Kurdistan and extends to Baghdad. The project, which is planned as a highway and a railway, starts from Şırnak in North Kurdistan, goes from Duhok province of Southern Kurdistan to Telafer, Xurmatu and Mosul in the west of Shengal and from there to Baghdad.

The project was suspended for a while after the administrative changes in Iraq and the restoration of the relations between the Turkish state and the KDP. However, after a series of diplomatic meetings on the Ankara, Baghdad, Hewlêr and Washington line, the project is reintroduced.

It is pointed out that the agreement between the KDP and the Iraqi central government on Shengal on 9 October is a part of this project.

It is stated that the Turkish state is trying to market the project to US officials with the claim that "Iran’s presence would be limited in Iraq, Hashd al-Shaabi would be weakened and "it will serve as a sword destroying the Shiite crescent".

On the way to the 100th anniversary of the Lausanne Treaty, the main target of the project, which is seen as one of the important steps for the Turkish state to realize its dreams of National Pact to reach Mosul and Kirkuk, is again the Kurds. With the said highway and railway project, the Turkish state is "breaking the connection between Rojava and Bashure Kurdistan", "ending the autonomy of the Yazidis in Shengal", "reaching Mosul and Kirkuk which are its historical ambitions" and also considers it a part of the siege plan.

TWO EVILS FOR KURDS

The project through which the Turkish state wishes to complete its mission that would realize its historical National Pact dreams, can be seen as two evils for the Kurds of Rojava and Bashur. The Turkish state, which divides Rojava and Northern Kurdistan by rail, adopts a similiar positon on the border with Bashûr and Rojava with this project, following the contstruction of the walls built around it (832 km on the North-Rojava border and 139 km on the North and Rojhilat border).