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UK considering to move Kirkuk consulate to
Kurdistan-Erbil
6.12.2006 |
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UK Consulate to move
to Kurdistan Region (Iraq)
December 4, 2006
London , -- British officials are still
reviewing plans for the future status of UK
consulate in northern Iraq, which is currently
located on the US compound in Kirkuk city, according
to Foreign Office Minister Lord Triesman.
"One of the options under consideration is to move
to Erbil. A decision has not yet been made on
whether the consulate should move from Kirkuk to
Erbil or elsewhere," Triesman said in a
parliamentary reply published Wednesday.
But he rejected calls to establish a commercial
office in Erbil (The capital of Kurdistan autonomous
region), saying that the UK Trade and Investment's (UKTI)
commercial team in Baghdad supports British business
across the whole of Iraq with support from its
office in Amman.
"In view of the situation in Iraq, and UKTI's
existing commercial network in the region, there are
no plans at present to open a trade office in Erbil,"
the minister said.
The renewed call to move the British consulate from
Kirkuk comes as a new airport is opening in Erbil
with direct flights planned from Europe, including
by Austrian Airlines, which is due to start will
start twice-weekly flights from Vienna next week.
A visit in November to Iraqi Kurdistan by British
parliamentarians reported that companies from many
countries, predominately Turkey but also China,
South Korea, Germany and the Czech Republic, were
investing in Erbil.
Fears were also expressed at the time that because
of the security situation in Iraqi Kurdistan, the
consulate in Kirkuk may be moved to a South Korean
army camp.
But arguments for a consulate in Erbil include the
current difficulties for businessmen and students in
Kurdistan to obtain visa for the UK.
Erbil is also used as the arrival centre for failed
Iraqi Kurdish asylum seekers being returned, with
more than 1,600 nationals being returned since July
2003.
Russia announced plans back in April to open a
consulate in Erbil, while the Netherlands also said
at the end of July it would open a mission in the
city.
irna ir
The former Iraqi president forced about 250,000
Kurdish residents in Kirkuk city to give up their homes to Arabs in
the 1970s, to "Arabize" the city and the region's
oil industry.
Kirkuk city is not under the full control of
Kurdistan Regional Government administration. A
referendum is to be held in late 2007 to decide
whether the oil-rich Kurdish province should be
annexed to the safe semiautonomous Kurdistan region
in Iraq's north.
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