Sulaimani delegation to visit Baghdad to restore Turkey – Sulaimani flights

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A delegation from the province of Sulaimani will visit Baghdad to discuss the resumption of direct flights between Turkey and the Sulaimani International Airport, a Kurdish official asserted on Sunday.

According to Sulaimani Governor, Haval Abubakr, a delegation will reportedly meet with Iraqi and Turkish officials in Baghdad to resume Turkish flights to and from the Sulaimani airport, months after they were first suspended, Sulaimani Governor Haval Abubakr claimed during a press conference.

Previously, Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, Nechirvan Barzani, told reporters that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) was in talks with Ankara to resume Turkish flights to Sulaimani.

Following last year’s Sep. 25 referendum on independence for the Kurdistan Region, Turkey halted all international flights to the semi-autonomous Kurdish region. A few months later, in March 2018, Ankara decided to resume flights to the capital of Erbil but did not include Sulaimani and its airport.

Turkish officials, including Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, accused both Gorran (Change) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) – whose strongholds’ are in the Sulaimani Province – of aiding the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish guerrilla group fighting for broader rights in Turkey which Ankara, the US, and the EU have designated a ‘terrorist’ organization.

Both Gorran and PUK officials rejected Turkey’s accusations.

Ankara’s accusations increased after the PKK released a video of its members arresting two “high-level” officials of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) in Sulaimani.

Turkey also shut down the PUK representative office in Ankara and the party’s envoy warned the PUK leadership of perceived ties with the PKK.

Editing by Nadia Riva