Basra

Trade Minister Ömer Bolat is embarking on a two-day visit to Iraq, seeking to boost economic cooperation.

Bolat's visit, accompanied by delegations from the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) and Turkish Contractors Association (TMB), will include stops in the capital Baghdad and the southern city of Basra, Trade Ministry sources said.

The operator of the oil tanker St Nikolas, Greece-based Empire Navigation, said on Thursday it had lost contact with the vessel off Oman near the city of Sohar.

A spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the vessel had a crew of 19, one from Greece and 18 from the Philippines, and was carrying 145,000 metric tons of oil from Basra, Iraq, to Aliaga, Turkey.

The oil is pumped 24 hours a day several meters from Raghed Jasim's home in Iraq's crude-rich southern heartland. Gas flares from the field light the night sky bright orange, spewing acrid smoke; when the wind picks up, the 40-year old's clothes are coated black.

Iraq is targeting Turkey as one of a possible export route alternatives for oil transportation from the oil-rich Basra region that has seen its exports hamper due to protests in the country, Iraqi Oil Minister Falah Alamri Jassim told Anadolu Agency on Nov. 11.

The death toll in anti-government protests in Iraq rose to 75 after a protester died of his wounds in the southern city of Basra on Oct. 28, according to a local medical source.

Mohammed Abdul Ameer's nostalgia for better days and his roots in the Levant were what inspired him to open Basra's first mixed-gender cafe since the rule of Saddam Hussein, and themed in honor of the Lebanese singer Fairouz.

A prominent activist has been killed in Iraq's southern Basra province amid protests against poor public utilities and corruption, according to a local police officer.

Iran on Sept. 8 summoned Iraqi ambassador in Tehran Rajeh al-Musawi over torching its consulate in the southern Basra province amid protests against poor public utilities and unemployment.

On Sept. 7, an angry mob torched the Iranian consulate in Basra as well as a number of government buildings amid growing unrest in the province over high unemployment and poor public services.

Three mortar shells were fired into Baghdad's green zone early Friday as a curfew was imposed in the southern Iraqi city of Basra after a fresh outbreak of violent protests over poor public services left one person dead and 35 injured.

Two more demonstrators were killed in southern Iraq, officials said, as protests against unemployment spread on July 14 from the port city of Basra to other parts of the country including Baghdad.