Iraq from turkey · From Turkey in Iraq
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From Turkey in Iraq
From Turkey in Iraq
Driving in from Turkey is the best method of entry into the Northern part of the country. This area of the country is relatively safe, at least compared to the rest of the country. Border police and locals will advise you which cities are safe to travel in (Zakho, Dohuk, Erbil, As-Sulaymaniyah etc.), and will warn you away from specific cities (such as Mosul or Baghdad).
From Diyarbakir, Turkey you will drive south east to Zakho, Iraq. It is possible to take a previously arranged taxi, the average cost of this taxi ride is $150 American dollars and most of the drivers only speak Kurdish or Arabic. You will often switch taxis in Silopi about five minutes from the Iraqi border, or you will change cars about 70km from the border and continue on from there. The taxi driver will then take care of all your paperwork at the border. This involves your driver running from building to building getting paperwork stamped and approved. You must have a photocopy of your passport for the Turkish section of the border, which they require that you leave with them (the photocopy, not your passport).
A much less expensive option is to take a bus from Diyarbakir directly to Silopi. This won't cost more than about 20 YTL. From the Silopi otogar (bus station), it's easy to get a taxi to Zakho. A good taxi driver can handle all of the photocopying and paperwork for the Turkish side.
At this point you will finish driving across the border crossing into Iraq. Your taxi driver will then take you to the Iraqi immigration and customs section. All persons and vehicles entering Iraq must be searched for contraband by the customs officers, and their vehicles are registered and pay some sort of stamp tax, however, occasionally, searches are not conducted. Without this stamp tax, it is illegal for a non-Iraqi vehicle to purchase gas at any of the state-run gas stations all over the country. After paying any import duties to customs and receiving the vehicle stamp, the immigration officers will check your passport and stamp it if you have a visa. Additionally, at some land border crossings, your fingerprint and/or photo will be taken. As of July 2008, there was no visa fee at this border crossing.
At this point, you will be at the border taxi stand, a few kilometers outside of the city of Zakho, and may need to hire another taxi to get to Zakho's city center (5,000-10,000 Dinars). For the taxi ride from the Turkish city where you changed cars to Zakho, it's about $40 US dollars. This is a safe place to meet your friends or to charter a taxi into another part of the country. Enjoy some tea while waiting.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Iraq
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Iraq Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.