Turkey has decided to extend the ban on flights through Turkish airspace to and from Sulaimani International Airport in Iraqi Kurdistan for an additional six months, the director of the airport told The New Arab.  

Turkey's foreign ministry had announced in April that it was suspending access to its airspace for flights to and from the airport until 3 January 2024, citing security concerns over the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militant group.

"Since Saturday, Turkey has extended the suspension for another six months, effective until 22 June 2024," Handren Mufti, the director of Sulaimani International Airport told The New Arab in a phone call.

"The reason is that Turkey refuses to open flights to and from the airport, and Ankara also disagrees with opening its airspace to all flights from the airport.” 

Mufti declined to directly talk about the issue of the PKK, but he said that the airport is "very safe for flights" and that "no security breaches had happened in the airport".

He said major airlines had been continuing to operate flights to and from the airport.

"If the airport had any terrorist activities, then those airlines should have had similar reactions," Mufti said.

In March, two helicopters mysteriously crashed in the Duhok province of the Kurdistan region, killing at least nine members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - including the group's counter-terrorism commander Shervan Kobani, a cousin of SDF leader Mazloum Abdi.

The SDF said the delegation was on its way to Sulaimaniyah "to exchange security and military expertise", and they crashed due to "bad weather".