Turkey extends travel ban to Sulaiamani airport for second time
The ban includes Turkish airspace closure to all flights from and to the SIA.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Turkey has extended a travel ban to the Kurdistan Region’s Sulaimani International Airport for six months, the airport director confirmed to Kurdistan24.
The flight ban will continue until June 22, Handren Hiwa, the SIA director, confirmed to Kurdistan24 on Saturday.
Ankara initially imposed the ban in April this year for three months, alleging the airport has become a “hub” for its staunch foe, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). An extension was made in July for six months, ending on January 3.
Sulaimani officials vehemently reject the claim, insisting the airport is a “civilian” one.
The ban includes Turkish airspace closure to all flights from and to the SIA.
It is not the first time Turkey stopped flights to Sulaimani. Ankara grounded flights to Sulaimani for over a year following the Kurdistan Region’s independence referendum in Sept. 2017.
The ban at first included both the Erbil and Sulaimani airports, as part of an international travel ban imposed by Baghdad. However, in March 2018, after Baghdad lifted its ban, Turkey agreed to resume flights only to Erbil, and not Sulaimani.
At the time, Turkey claimed that the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Gorran (Change) Movement — the two dominant parties in the province of Sulaimani — had been providing support to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). It lifted its ban in Jan. 2019.
Fighting the PKK since the mid-1980s, Turkey has launched numerous ground and aerial military operations against the Kurdish militants inside the Kurdistan Region, resulting in tens of thousands of causalities.
Bolstered by its advanced drone industry, Ankara has in recent years assassinated several suspected members of the group inside urban centers, including in Sulaimani and Garmiyan areas.
Additional reporting by Kurdistan24 Sulaimani reporter Hawzheen Jamal
