NEWS CENTER - Member of the Federal Kurdistan Region Parliament's Finance Committee, Dr. Şêrko Cewdet said that the KDP closed the border gates without the knowledge of the parliament and the government.

 

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) closed the Sêmalka and Al Welid border gates on December 16 without any explanations, and started to impose an embargo on Northern and Eastern Syria. In the past, the KDP has blocked the crossing of the border gate many times. Peace Mothers have been staging a sit in for 91 days in Semalka for the release of the bodies of HPG and YJA-STAR members who lost their lives as a result of the KDP ambush. Families marched to the border crossing many times to recieve the bodies and make their voices heard. Instead of responding to the demands of the families, the KDP closed the border gate. Not informing the Kurdistan Regional Government and the parliament, the fact that the KDP closed the border crossings is causing a backlash of the people.

 

'WE ARE PREVENTED FROM GETTING ANY INFORMATION'

 

Speaking to RojNews about the closing of the border gates, member of the Parliament of Federal Kurdistan Region's Finance Committee, Dr. Şêrko Cewdet said, “We met with the Ministry of Finance and the Committee of Ministers regarding the issue and we are following the events unfold. They certainly don't know about the anything about it. The ministry has no information on revenue and customs issues. Besides, the forces at the border do not allow us to get information and they are preventing us from getting any information whatsoever. According to the articles of customs laws, control of the customs gates belongs to the Iraqi state. The authority to close the border gates belongs to the Iraqi state. In other words, the government cannot make such a decision even if it wants to. We are following the incident at the level of the Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs and the parliamentarians.”