Turkey extends Sulaymaniyah flight ban through October 2025

SULAYMANIYAH — Turkish authorities have extended their ban on flights to and from Sulaymaniyah International Airport until Oct. 6, 2025, an airport source told 964media on Sunday.

The restriction, first imposed on April 3, 2023, and renewed multiple times since, was set to expire July 6. The directive prohibits all aircraft traveling to or from Sulaymaniyah from entering Turkish airspace.

Ankara has repeatedly accused the Sulaymaniyah-based Patriotic Union of Kurdistan of supporting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK—an allegation that has prompted a series of punitive measures, including the airspace closure.

In July 2024, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the flight ban would remain in place “as long as Sulaymaniyah’s ruling party continues its ties with the PKK,” referring to the PUK.

The closure has disrupted commercial air traffic and economic activity in the Kurdistan Region’s second-largest city. During Erdogan’s April 2024 visit to Erbil, Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani—a senior PUK figure—pressed the Turkish president to reconsider, citing the policy’s economic and regional impact.