SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region — Kurdish officials negotiating for ministerial posts with the Shiite National Alliance have added another demand to their list: Assurance that Baghdad will have no say over the Kurdistan Region’s aviation affairs.
Baghdad has suspended commercial flights into and out of Kurdistan’s two international airports several times over the past few years, including a 2012 flight carrying Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yaldiz, who was headed Erbil for an important oil and gas conference.
Friad Rawanduzi, a member of the Kurdish team in Baghdad, told Rudaw, “During our negotiations with the National Alliance, we demanded full control of our own civil aviation.”
Prime Minister-designate Hayder and the National Alliance, the most powerful coalition in Iraq’s Parliament, are under pressure to form a national unity government that includes Sunni Arabs and Kurds but both groups have substantial conditions.
It is unclear how high civil aviation is on the list of Kurdish demands, which include sending the region its share of oil revenue following a 9-month embargo by Baghdad; paying Peshmerga salaries; and recognizing Kurdish administration of disputed territories such as oil-rich Kirkuk.
Rawanduzi indicated that the negotiations are challenging, however.
“The National Alliances’ roadmap for a solution hasn’t fully addressed the Kurdish demands,” he said, in reference to attempts to heal divisions between groups.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) built two international airports in Sulaimani and Erbil as part of its economic and infrastructure development following the US-led invasion in 2003.
The airports, which served as hubs for all of Iraq as violence wracked Baghdad, have been essential in connecting the region to outside world. However, Baghdad’s full control of Kurdistan’s airspace has allowed the central government to limit flights carrying cargo and passengers.
Kurdish officials also charge Baghdad with withholding funds designated for Kurdish airports.
Talar Faiq, Erbil airport director, claimed Baghdad owes Kurdistan hundreds of millions of dollars including $5 million in aircraft parking fees.
A source in Sulaimani airport, who asked to remain anonymous, told Rudaw that Iraq’s Civil Aviation Authority has withheld $10 million in aircraft parking revenue.
The source added that Sulaimani airport officials, working through Kurdish MPs in Baghdad and KRG Ministry of Transportation, have not been able to secure the funds.
When asked how much amount Baghdad owes Sulaimani airport, director Tahir Abdulla said, “I don’t know where the money goes and how much it is.”
The battle over air space is one issue in the contentious relationship between Baghdad, which advocates for centralized government, and Erbil, which wants to operate with a high degree of autonomy.
Iraq’s constitution offers no guidance on whether regional or national governments have authority over aviation regulations.
Shwan Muhammad, a former Kurdish MP in the Iraqi Parliament, said Kurdish lawmakers rejected a civil aviation bill in the previous Iraqi Parliament because “it gave no authority to KRG over its air transportation.”
The Kurdistan Region’s Parliament approved legislation to create the Kurdistan Civil Aviation Association in 2010, but it has still not been formed.
Fiaq said without the association, Baghdad deals with the two Kurdish airports differently.
“Because the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority refuses to pay for the Kurdish airports, the KRG has to take care of their expenses,” she added.
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