Turkish ban on Sulaimani airport ‘politically motivated,’ says governor

Ankara initially imposed the ban in April this year for three months,.

Kurdistan 24 2023/12/25 14:38

Sulaimani Governor Haval Abu Bakir speaking to reporters in Sulaimani at a church, Dec. 25, 2023. (Photo: Kurdistan24)

Kurdistan Sulaimani International Airport Sulaimani Turkey

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Turkey’s ban on Sulaimani International Airport is “politically motivated,” said the city’s governor on Monday, as Ankara has recently extended the ban.

Sulaimani authorities are in regular contact with the “[Turkish] friends” to resolve the matter, Governor Haval Abu Bakir said, adding the factor behind the ban is not legal or technical; rather “it is politically motivated."

Abubakir's remarks came at a church he had visited in Sulaimani on the occasion of Christmas.

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.

The ban, which includes Turkish airspace closure to all flights from and to the SIA, has been extended to June 2024 on Saturday.

Travel agencies and commercial agents in the city have previously warned against the increased costs incurred as a result of the ban.

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.