Turkey confirms ban on Sulaimani flights until July
“Turkish airspace has been closed to the use of aircraft that will use Iraq Sulaymaniyah International Airport for landing/take-off as of April 3rd.”
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – In a statement on Wednesday, the spokesperson of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Ambassador Tanju Bilgiç confirmed Turkey has stopped flights to Sulaimani International Airport.
Read More: Turkish airlines temporarily suspends flights to Sulaimani airport
As of April 3, Turkish flights to and from Sulaymaniyah International Airport will be closed, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.
Statement of the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador @TanjuBilgic in Response to a Question Regarding the Closure of Turkish Airspace to Flights from/to Sulaymaniyah https://t.co/SJKetEw0qf pic.twitter.com/o8OsNab38h
— Turkish MFA (@MFATurkiye) April 5, 2023
Turkey claimed that the decision was made after ‘intensified activities’ of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were conducted at the airport.
“The decision to ground all flights until July 3, 2023 will be reassessed after the period to monitor and determine the situation at that time,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.
Earlier Dana Mohammed, the Director of Public Relations and Communications of the International Airport of Sulaimani, told Kurdistan 24 that they have “asked Turkey to clarify the reason for this decision.”
The Turkish ban on Sulaimani flights comes after a helicopter carrying members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from Rojava (northeast Syria) to Sulaimani crashed in Duhok in late March, killing nine SDF fighters.
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, blaming the PUK and Gorran for providing support to the PKK. It lifted on Sulaimani in Jan. 2019.