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Two major Turkish banks, Vakifbank and Akbank are
preparing to open representative offices or branches
in South-Kurdistan (Northern Iraq) , where 200
Turkish companies currently operate and annually, $2
billion worth of exports are conducted. Akbank and
Vakifbank have reportedly started talks with the
authorities.
Ziraat Bank, another Turkish bank, obtained the
first permission to operate in Kurdistan last year,
but it was unable to begin operating because it is a
public bank and for security reasons. However,
Ziraat Bank's initiative paved the way for other
Turkish banks.
Turkish companies operating in the region said they
are having problems in obtaining letters of
guarantee, letters of credit and completing money
transfers and they want Turkish banks to come to the
region as soon as possible. Banking activities in
South-Kurdistan (Northern Iraq) are conducted in
jewelry and at exchange offices in Erbil, Duhok,
Sulaimaniyah, and Kirkuk.
The representative of the Bank of Kurdistan, Adham
Karim Darwesh, said that all banks are welcome,
including Turkish banks. “Everybody knows, that
there is a big bank in Kurdistan. But every bank is
welcome in Kurdistan. This confirms, that Kurdistan
is safe for these kind of companies and we are very
happy with that.”
The Turkish banks Vakifbank and Akbank claim that
there never was a strong and effective economic ties
between Turkey and South-Kurdistan. But because of
their banks this is going to change.
The current stable Kurdish economy provides works
for Kurds on the other side on the border in
North-Kurdistan. Many companies working in
South-Kurdistan (Northern Iraq) hail from the
Kurdish region in Turkey. A Kurdish friend of mine
out of Diyarbakir, whose family works as truck
drivers across the borders, said business went down
after the war against Saddam, but it’s getting
better now.
In the meanwhile the Kurdish government is
struggling with a shortage of petrol, because of the
lack of refineries. Recently Turkish firms stopped
the petrol export to South Kurdistan (Northern
Iraq), which doubled the oil crisis.
Source: Zaman, Peyamner (Sorani), Netkurd (Kurmanji),
Azady(Dutch).
http://vladimirkurdistan.blogspot.com/
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