PM Barzani to inaugurate Zakho as Region’s newest autonomous administration

Kurdistan 24 2021/09/20 10:15

Dalal Bridge is a well-known landmark in Zakho district, built over Khabur river. (Photo: KRG Board of Toursim)

Kurdistan Zakho Autonomous Administration Masrour Barzani Krg

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Prime Minister Masrour Barzani will inaugurate Zakho as the newest independent administration in the Kurdistan Region on Monday morning.

An official inauguration ceremony is being held at 11:00 am local time.

On July 28, the KRG’s Council of Ministers approved a proposal to make the administrations of Zakho and Soran independent, which gives them greater autonomy to manage their internal affairs.

Zakho is a northern district in the Kurdistan Region’s Duhok province that borders Turkey. Its two main districts are Batifa and Zakho.

On September 14, Prime Minister Barzani inaugurated Soran as an independent administration in a ceremony attended by local officials and KRG ministers.

“It is a historic beginning,” Barzani said at the ceremony.

“We promised to delegate power to independent administrations and provinces,” to cut red tape, he added.

Ibrahim Khalil (Habur Border or Frontier Gate), the only border-crossing Turkey has with Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, is located in Zakho. Billions of dollars worth of trade is conducted through that international crossing each year.

In July 2020, Prime Minister Barzani visited Zakho, where he met local officials and approved several projects to modernize the area.

“The city of Zakho, like any part of Kurdistan, deserves the best of service. We are prepared to do all we can to serve this city,” he said at the time.