Still, the two sides agreed to resume oil exports to the international market via a key pipeline in the Kurdistan region, to Turkiye’s Ceyhan energy hub starting last Wednesday (Mar 18).
The move follows a sharp 70 per cent drop in output from Iraq’s main southern oilfields – where most of its crude is produced – amid the Iran conflict. The United States-Israel war against Iran has effectively disrupted traffic through the vital Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 per cent of global oil is shipped.
But even with the alternative route to Turkiye, authorities acknowledge that it will only offset a fraction of the country’s lost daily output.
LIVING IN FEAR OF STRIKES
For residents, these pressures are just the latest chapter in a long history of hardship.
“For many years, Kurds have been oppressed and displaced,” said grocer Wasman Ghafour. “There’s almost no country you can go to where there are no Kurds, and it is all because of war, oppression, and displacement.”