Türkiye resumes flights to Iraq’s Sulaymaniyah after over two-year ban

SULAYMANIYAH

The first Turkish aircraft landed at Sulaymaniyah International Airport in Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region in the early hours of Nov. 3, marking the end of Ankara’s two-and-a-half-year flight ban imposed due to concerns over the activities of the PKK terrorist organization in the area.

The decision to resume flights to Sulaymaniyah was announced in October by the office of Kurdish Regional President Nechirvan Barzani, following his meeting in Ankara with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The aircraft, carrying roughly 100 passengers, was welcomed with a ceremony at the airport upon arrival.

Airport Director Rebaz Mohammed Khalil said that Istanbul–Sulaymaniyah flights would operate four times a week, noting that the number of flights is planned to increase in the coming months.

Khalil emphasized the significance of lifting the ban for trade, stating that the suspension had negatively affected commercial activity by nearly 35 percent over the past two and a half years.

Under the current schedule, Turkish Airlines will operate round-trip flights between Istanbul Airport and Sulaymaniyah International Airport (on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. Beginning from March 26, flights will run daily.

A passenger interviewed at the terminal said the lifting of the ban greatly facilitated travel.

“Previously, I had to fly via Doha to reach Sulaymaniyah. I would spend about seven and a half hours on the plane, then travel another two and a half hours— nearly 10 hours in total. Today, we made it here from Istanbul in just four and a half hours,” he told Türkiye’s İhlas News Agency.

Türkiye imposed the ban two years ago, citing an increase in PKK terror operations in Sulaymaniyah that it said posed risks to flight safety.

PKK, designated a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union, has led a decades-long insurgency in Türkiye that has extended into Iraq and Syria, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths.

Earlier this year, PKK agreed to disband and renounce armed conflict as part of a new peace initiative with Türkiye. A symbolic disarmament ceremony was held near Sulaymaniyah in July.