Turkey closes airspace to flights using north Iraqi airport

Turkey has closed its airspace to flights to and from an airport in Kurdishadministered northern Iraq a top Turkish official announced on Wednesday citing an alleged increase in Kurdish militant activity threatening flight safetyThe airspace was closed Monday to flights taking off from and landing at Suleimaniyah International Airport in northern Iraqs semiautonomous Kurdish region Foreign Ministry Spokesman Tanju Bilgic saidThe closure was a response to an alleged increase in the activities of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK in the city of Suleimaniyah including its infiltration of the airport Bilgic said in a written statementBilgic said the Turkish airspace would remain closed until July 3 when Turkish authorities would review the security situationThe decision comes weeks after two helicopters crashed in northern Iraq killing Kurdish militants who were on board The incident fueled claims that the PKK was in possession of helicopters infuriating Turkish authoritiesThe main USbacked and Kurdishled force in northeastern Syria later said it lost nine fighters including a commander in the crash which occurred during bad weather on a flight to SuleimaniyahAlso readMumbai reports first Covid19 death in 78 days active cases mount to 1244The nine included elite fighters who were in Iraq as part of an exchange of expertise in the fight against the Islamic State group according to a group known as the Syrian Democratic Forces or SDFSuleimaniyah International Airport director Handren al Mufti said the airport received an email from Turkish Airlines on April 3 saying its flights that day and the next were cancelled A subsequent email extended the flight suspension until April 11 Mufti saidHe said airport officials received no response when they asked why the action was takenI can assure everyone that we have no security issues at all and not a single incident of security breach occurred inside the airport but apparently there are other purposes behind their decision Mufti saidTurkish Airlines flew twice daily from Istanbul to SuleimaniyahThe PKK has waged an insurgency against Turkey since the 1980s and is considered a terrorist group by Ankara the United States and the European Union Its members have established safe havens in northern Iraq and frequently come under attack by Turkey in the regionTurkey also considers a Syrian Kurdish militant group which forms the backbone of the SDF as a terrorist organisationThe United States however distinguishes between the PKK and SDF and doesnt consider the SDF a terrorist groupThe helicopter crash also fed into a local rivalry between the two main Kurdish parties in IraqOfficials from the Kurdish Democratic Party which has maintained largely good relations with Turkey alleged after the crash that the helicopters had been originally purchased by the rival Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party which has its stronghold in Suleimaniyah and that they had been flying without permission from the regional governmentThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever