Turkish firms welcome return of air access to Iraqi Kurdistan
Now that Baghdad has lifted the ban on international travel to the Iraqi Kurdistan region, experts say the Turkish government needs to resume mutual flights as soon as possible.
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — Regular international flights to and from Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region resumed this week after six months, much to the relief of foreign investors looking to grab a share of the reconstruction business there since Mosul 's liberation from the Islamic State (IS).
While flights to and from Saudi Arabia were allowed during the ban, to facilitate Muslim passengers traveling on hajj, all other air traffic had been grounded.
A flight March 19 from Dubai to Erbil was the first non-hajj-related international traffic the area has seen since the central government in Baghdad tightened its grip on the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) following the latter's independence referendum Sept. 25.
Iraqi Kurdistan is landlocked, surrounded by Turkey, Syria, Iran and other parts of Iraq. The airports at Erbil and Sulaimaniyah served as the KRG's economic and political lifelines. The KRG administration and many foreign countries applauded news of the airports' reopenings, as did much of Turkey's business world.
