Updated: Turkey opens airspace to Erbil flights, omits Sulaimani for now

Sulaimani airport chief slams Ankara's 'political, illegal' decision not to open airspace 

Turkey’s decision not to open its airspace for flights to Sulaimani flights is “political, not legal,” Tahir Abdullah, the manager of the city’s airport has said. 

Turkey re-opened its airspace to flights in and out of Erbil, but said it could not do the same for Sulaimani because of concerns of terror activities. 

Speaking to the Kurdish section of Voice of America, Abdullah called on the KRG to take a stance on the matter, saying this decision “is a kind of punishment of the people of Kurdistan as the airports serve all the groups and peoples without favoritism.”

“We expect the Iraqi government to have own stance as it is related to the sovereignty of Iraq and the matter is political, not legal and technical,” he added. 

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10:43 pm

Sulaimani governor rejects terror charge

Sulaimani Governor Haval Abubakir dismissed Turkish Prime Minister Yildirim’s comments, saying “We are rejecting every kind of terror.”

Announcing Turkey was opening its airspace for flights to Erbil, Yildirim had said they were not including Sulaimani in the move, citing a concern about terrorist activities in the province, an allegation Abubakir slammed.

“Terror has been defeated in Sulaimani. There is no security vacuum in Sulaimani,” he said, adding that they have conveyed their position to Turkey’s consulate general in Erbil.

“We are also asking the Kurdistan Region and the Iraqi government to announce their positions in this regard as Sulaimani is far away from what being talked about,” Abubakir stated.

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7:15 pm

Austrian Airlines and Lufthansa announce resumption of services to Erbil

Austrian Airlines will begin daily flights between Vienna and Erbil beginning on March 26, the airline announced. 

Lufthansa will offer twice-weekly flights between Frankfurt and Erbil, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, with the first flight taking off on March 27, Reuters reported. 

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2:55 pm

Turkey re-opens airspace for Erbil traffic

The Turkish government will open its airspace to flights bound to the Erbil International Airport later on Friday, but will continue to impose a flight ban on international flights to Sulaimani International Airport due to "terror activities,” according to Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

Opening the airspace "is only for Erbil. It does not include Sulaimani because there are terrorist activities taking place against our country from there," Yildirim added.

Sulaimani, Kurdistan's second-largest province, is the stronghold of the ruling Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).

Turkish FM Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday that his country is concerned about the "direct coordination" between the PUK and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The PKK is an armed political party fighting for the greater national and cultural rights for millions of Kurds since the 1980s. Its main headquarters are in the Kurdistan Region's Qandil Mountains, located on the border between the Kurdistan Region and Turkey. Turkey considers the group a terrorist organization.

The PUK on Thursday issued a strongly-worded statement calling for an end to "aerial terror" of the Turkish military following deadly airstrike that killed four civilians in Kurdish border villages inside the Kurdistan Region on the same day. 

Harem Kamal Aqa, a PUK Leadership member, told Rudaw on Thursday that while they support the plight of the Kurdish people in all parts of Kurdistan, the party supports peace processes as a solution to Kurdish problems. He gave the example of an initiative by the party’s late founder Jalal Talabani in the 1990s when he unsuccessfully pushed for a negotiated-peace solution in Turkey.

Relations between the PUK and Turkey entered a strained stage when the PKK arrested two Turkish intelligence agents last August in Sulaimani, a PUK stronghold. Ankara then expelled the PUK's representative from Turkey over the issue.  

Erbil is the stronghold of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the main ruling party with close ties to Ankara. 

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11:33 a.m.

Turkish ban on flights bound to Kurdistan still in place

With several airliners already confirming the resumption of international flights to the Kurdistan Region, the continued closure of Turkish airspace means Turkish and European airliners cannot immediately resume their flights.