Turkish Forum

Tag: Arbil

  • Kurdish flag dispute stirs Iraqi tensions

    Kurdish flag dispute stirs Iraqi tensions

    By Aseel Kami

    BAGHDAD | Sun Oct 16, 2011 10:21pm IST

    in.reuters.com

    (Reuters) – Kurds protested in an Iraqi city on Sunday against an order to lower Kurdish flags from official buildings in a disagreement fanning tensions between Iraqi Arabs and the country’s Kurdish population.

    Iraq’s disputed territories, particularly the area around the northern oil-wealthy city of Kirkuk, are considered potential flashpoints for future conflict when American troops leave as scheduled at the end of this year.

    Hundreds of Kurdish demonstrators rallied in Khanaqin city waving Kurdish flags and shouting slogans against Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his government’s decision to take down the Kurdish flag from government buildings.

    “We are Kurds and the flag is our symbol. On what basis do they want to lower the Kurdistan flag,” said Rawand Raghib, 23, a Kurd participating in the protest.

    Khanaqin, 140 km (100 miles) northeast of Baghdad, lies in the Iraqi province of Diyala, but it is also adjacent to the Kurdish Sulaimaniya city, which is part of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan.

    Maliki media advisor, Ali al-Moussawi, said raising the Kurdish flag in disputed cities was unconstitutional and would provoke Iraqi Arabs living in those areas.

    “Raising the flag in these areas is a constitutional violation,” he said.

    The last 41,000 American soldiers are due to withdraw from Iraq by year end when a security agreement expires. Many Kurdish officials want U.S. troops to stay after December as a guarantee of stability in the disputed areas.

    Residents in Khanaqin said the city was tense with an increase in Iraqi army checkpoints. Cars carried Kurdish flags and some Kurds even changed old Kurdish flags for new ones.

    No Kurdish flags were seen being taken down from the city’s government offices, residents said.

    The speaker of Kurdish parliament, Kamal Kirkuki, said the flag issue was a “sacred issue”.

    “The Kurdish political leadership is ready to use all means to preserve the Kurdish flag,” Kirkuki said in a press conference on Saturday in the Kurdistan capital Arbil.

    Semi-autonomous since 1991, Kurdistan has enjoyed more security than the rest of Iraq, where the central government is still fighting insurgents and militia more than eight years after the U.S. invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

    The Kurds and Iraqi Arabs not only have a long territorial dispute over areas of northern Iraq, but also disagree about oil contracts the Kurdistan regional government (KRG) has signed with international oil firms.

    Baghdad and the KRG still disagree over revenue-sharing and a national oil law is fueling more tensions as the central government seeks more control over crude reserves in the OPEC member nation.

    (Reporting by Aseel Kami in Baghdad and Shamal Aqrawi in Arbil; Writing by Aseel Kami; Editing by Patrick Markey)

    via Kurdish flag dispute stirs Iraqi tensions | Reuters.

  • Turkish Airlines’ first airplane to land in Erbil on April 14

    Turkish Airlines’ first airplane to land in Erbil on April 14

    The Kurdish Globe

    By Aiyob Mawloodi–Erbil

    With three flights per week, Turkey’s national carrier launches Istanbul-Erbil flights

    thyTurkey’s national carrier Turkish Airlines (Türk Hava Yolları) is finalizing preparations to begin flights to Erbil in mid April. The decision for the Turkish state airline to launch a route to the Kurdish Region of Iraq in mid April was disclosed in late March when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Teyyip Erdogan and President of the Region Massoud Barzani jointly opened the new Erbil International Airport.

    Erbil airport was opened mid 2005, but it was upgraded in 2010 to accommodate new technology. Its runway is said to be the longest in the Middle East and the fifth longest in the world, after airports in China, Russia, South Africa and the U.S.

    So far, only private airlines have operated the flights between Kurdistan and Turkey, “But we have decided to also include Turkish Airlines,” said Erdogan.

    “THY has finished all preparations to operate the first flight on April 14,” an airline official told Aknews. “The company has started selling tickets, and three flights per week will be operated to Erbil, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.”

    By April 14, the total flights between the Kurdish capital and Istanbul will be seven flights per week, as Atlas Jet, one of Turkey’s private airline companies, currently operates four flights per week.

    Turkish Airlines, established May 20, 1933 under Law 2186 in Ankara, under the name State Airlines Administration, part of the Ministry of Defense, operates scheduled flights to 134 international destinations, serving 175 airports in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas.

    Earlier, Abdul Hussein Abtan, a member of the Najaf Provincial Council, told a Kurdish news agency that the civil aviation authorities in Iraq and Turkey have given Turkish Airlines the go ahead for 36 flights a week between Istanbul and six Iraqi airports: Baghdad, Erbil, Najaf, Suleimaniya, Basra and Mosul.

    Currently, Atlas Jet’s four flights are between Atatürk Airport in Istanbul and Erbil International Airport. The increased number of flights between Turkey and Iraq is hoped to lower the cost of air travel.

    The 27,000-square-meter Erbil Airport was designed by a British company and construction was by a Turkish company. It can operate 150 flights per day.

    As the volume of trade and business relations between the Kurdish Region and Turkey are increasing at a rapid pace, and the diplomatic relations between the two areas is improving, especially with the official visit by Erdogan to Erbil in late March, the need for fast and reliable transportation between Kurdistan and Turkey is increasing every day. One of the most crowded flights to and from Erbil has been the Istanbul flight operated by Atlas Jet.

    Turkish Airlines’ introduction of new routes between the two cities will further facilitate business relations between Turkey and Kurdistan Region, as well as Iraq. It may also reduce crowding and lower prices.

    Starting with the passenger flights, Turkish Cargo, a brand of Turkish Airlines launched a cargo service to Erbil. The cargo service is operated through passenger flights, three times weekly. From May 11, Turkish Cargo will offer a cargo service to Basra, through passenger flights, four times weekly.

    By expanding its network with two more destinations in the Middle East and North Africa region, and introducing freight service to Iraq, Turkish Cargo is on the path to becoming a stronger actor in the region. Turkish Cargo intends to increase its cooperation with Turkish Airlines and the frequency of flights to increase its market share in Iraq as well as to connect the Iraqi market to the world market.

    The volume of trade between Turkey and Iraq has passed $7 billion a year and, according to Erdogan, the aim is to increase the number to $25 billion annually. This is why Turkey is keen to strengthen ties with Iraq and Kurdistan Region. The decision by the Turkish government to launch direct flights to six airports in the country, two of them in Kurdistan, as well as the opening of branches of three Turkish banks in Kurdistan, is a clear indication of that intention.

    Recently, the branches of three Turkish banks – T.C. Ziraat Bankasi (Agricultural Bank of the Turkish Republic), a state-owned bank; Türkiye Iş Bankasi; and Vakif Bank — opened in Erbil, mainly to facilitate the activities of the hundreds of Turkish companies doing business in the Region and the Kurdish traders who have business with Turkish firms and business people.

    via KurdishGlobe- Turkish Airlines’ first airplane to land in Erbil on April 14.