In a statement on Thursday, PUK (Patriotic Union of Kurdistan) Parliamentarian Karwan Yarweys said: “The flight ban on Suleimaniyah Airport has officially ended. All aircraft wishing to operate flights to Sulaymaniyah International Airport can now fly to the airport. The Turkish Civil Aviation Authority sent a message via the Chebs Worldwide system, opening Turkish airspace to all Turkey-Sulaimaniyah flights.”
Flights to and from Sulaymaniyah, one of the largest cities in southern Kurdistan, were first suspended in April 2023. At the time, Ankara justified the flight ban with alleged “threats” from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). It was claimed that the PKK had “infiltrated” Sulaymaniyah airport, thereby threatening flight safety. Since then, the ban has been extended six times.
Following a meeting between Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on October 9, it was announced that instructions had been given to resume flights from Turkey to Sulaymaniyah.
The closure of the airspace affects not only direct flights, but also flights via Sulaymaniyah Airport. Authorities in the KRI suspect that the measure was taken in response to the joint fight by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Peshmerga of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which governs Sulaymaniyah, against the terrorist militia “Islamic State” (IS). A few weeks before the airspace closure came into effect, nine fighters from the SDF’s anti-terror unit YAT were killed in two helicopter crashes in the KRI in March 2023. The members of the elite unit wanted to exchange information with the PUK on security issues and military expertise.
The crashes were caused by poor weather conditions at the time. After the fatal accident, Turkey repeatedly threatened the PUK with countermeasures, one of which was the closure of its airspace. Last year, the party led by Bafel Talabani was then declared a “security problem” for Turkey by the government in Ankara. Unlike the Barzanî clan-dominated Kurdistan Democratic PArty (KDP), the PUK does not collaborate with the Turkish state to attack the Kurdish freedom movement and other emancipatory groups perceived as threats.