Flights between Sulaimani and Turkey resume
SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region — Flights between Sulaimani in the Kurdistan Region and Turkey have resumed on Saturday.
Turkish Airlines Flight 807 took off from Sulaymaniyah International Airport at 4:10 a.m. and landed at Istanbul Ataturk Airport at 7 a.m., according to the airline's website.
It is the first commercial air travel between Sulaimani and Turkey since the latter imposed a flight ban after the Kurdistan Region's independence referendum on September 30, 2017.
The first commercial flight between Sulaimani and Turkey takes off on January 26, 2019. Video: Sulaymaniyah International Airport FB
Other airlines haven't yet announced the resumption of flights. Sulaimani is the largest province in the Kurdistan Region by area and population. It takes at least 2 hours, 30 minutes to drive between Sulaimani and Erbil on dangerous roads which wind through the mountains.
Turkey opened its airspace to flights to and from Erbil International Airport in March 2018, but refused to open it with Sulaimani alleging the presence of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) elements in the province.
Authorities in the province have taken a firmer anti-PKK stance to appease Turkey recently.
This is a developing story...