Following the blockade of the unofficial border crossings of Kurdistan, a large part of the businessmen and marketers of Javanrood, Marivan and Saqqez went on strike by closing their shops.

Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) has been informed that on Tuesday, April 04, a group of businessmen and marketers in Javanrood gathered in front of the governor’s building in protest to the blockade of border crossing and showed their dissatisfaction.

In the cities of Saqqez and Mariwan, shopkeepers also closed the shops and in protest to the closure of the temporary border crossing and the high cost of clearing goods and the authorities’ failure to fulfil their promise of solving the problems of marketers.

Officials of Baneh had published a message in cyberspace and promised to reopen the Siranband-Baneh border on Monday, February 27, in order to prevent the strike.

According to businessmen in Saqqez, closure of the borders has reduced the entry of goods to the market, and the increase of the clearance fees, has raised prices very much. Such situation has had a negative impact on the business of the border marketers.

Over the last three months since the closure of the unofficial borders, thousands of kolbars have lost their job while hundreds of shopkeepers have incurred huge losses due to the high cost of clearing the goods at the official borders.