Turkey on Monday extended a flight ban to Iraqi Kurdistan’s Sulaimaniyah International Airport for six months, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) officials confirmed, in a move that will further squeeze the region’s economy and physically isolate it from the West. The extension was first reported by the Iraqi Kurdish news outlet Rudaw, citing officials from Turkey’s national carrier, Turkish Airlines.
The initial ban was announced in April and imposed for three months on the grounds that the airport had become a hub for activities of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The Turkish Kurdish group, whose top commanders are based in Iraqi Kurdistan, has been orchestrating its armed campaign against the Turkish military from the Iraq-Iran border since the early 1990s.
Sulaimaniyah is under the control of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the second most influential party in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which has traditionally enjoyed close ties with the PKK. Qubad Talabani, whose older brother Bafel runs the PUK, traveled to Ankara in April in a bid to appease Ankara, but apparently to little effect. The PUK is clearly not living up to Ankara’s expectations to restrict and provide actionable intelligence on the PKK’s activities in the Sulaimaniyah region.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which leads the KRG, is, on the other hand, closely allied with Turkey and supports its ongoing military campaign against the PKK. Thousands of Turkish troops are deployed across KDP-held territory close to the Turkish border where the bulk of the rebels are based. Officials of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are not permitted to use the Erbil airport to travel abroad in keeping with Ankara’s wishes. KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, whose father, Massoud, leads the KDP, became the first foreign dignitary to pay Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a formal visit following his election victory in May.
