US envoy holds slew of meetings in Iraq to halt Ovaköy border gate

The Ovaköy border gate, the second between Turkey and Iraq, has sent the United States into a state of panic. Brett McGurk, the U.S. special envoy for the fight against Daesh, held meetings with Iraqi politicians.

McGurk has recently been meeting with different sections of Iraqi politics. On Tuesday, McGurk met with Nechirvan Barzani, the prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). He also met with various Turkmen, Arab, Kurdish and Christian representatives.

McGurk has held meetings in Mosul, Kirkuk, Erbil, Tal Afar and Sinjar, in which he asked tribes to back the clearing of Baghdad’s forces and their replacement by American troops and the Peshmerga.

During his meeting in Kirkuk, McGurk alleged that Tal Afar would be cleared of Iraqi forces and come under U.S. control. He added that Iranian soldiers and Hashd Shaabi militias stationed at Tel Afar military airport would be cleared by U.S. troops.

Three other top U.S. officials participated in the meetings, in which they stated that the Turkey-Syria border would be delivered to the Peshmerga through the help of U.S. troops. While Brett McGurk was in the region for four days, a U.S. foreign affairs and defense delegation remained in northern Iraq for another week and continued to meet with different groups.

The splitting of controversial areas was also discussed in the meetings. McGurk said that 40,000 pro-Iran militias were currently in Mosul and Kirkuk, 80 percent of whom were Shiite.

McGurk offered to cooperate with all segments in order to clear the region of Hashd Shaabi militias. He added that the next step was Kirkuk and that the town would be delivered to the Peshmerga.

Experts have dubbed McGurk’s meetings as an attempt to sabotage the Ovaköy border gate. The Ovaköy border gate, an alternative to the Ibrahim Khalil border crossing located between Turkey and the Kurdish region in northern Iraq, will bypass the Barzani administration.

The U.S. seeks to position troops in border areas and then deliver these areas to the Peshmerga to serve two purposes: firstly, to prevent the Ovaköy border gate project; and secondly, to continue to protect the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and deliver weapons to its Syrian extension, the Democratic Union Party (PYD).

Following a feasibility study and an agreement on the route, the Ovaköy Border Gate will be given the green light.

The border gate will also cut off the weapons supply of the PKK terror group.

Washington, which is currently using the Ibrahim Khalil border crossing to supply weapons to terrorists from the PKK in Syria, is afraid of losing its terror card in the region and is trying to stop the Ovaköy Border Gate project.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.