THE Turkey closed its airspace for flights to and from the day before yesterday, Monday Suleymaniyahin the Iraqi Kurdistanthe Turkish Foreign Ministry announced today.

“Turkish airspace has been closed to planes using Sulaymaniyah International Airport in Iraq since April 3,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“This decision was taken in the context of the intensification of PKK activities in Sulaymaniyah, the terrorist organization’s infiltration of the airport and the threat to aviation security,” he added.

The closure of Turkish airspace is expected to last until July 3, but will be “reviewed in light of the facts” that will exist by that date, the ministry said.

Nine Syrian Democratic Forces (SDS) fighters, including a top commander, were killed in mid-March when two helicopters crashed in bad weather in northern Iraq, the Kurdish-dominated coalition, an ally of the United States, said.

Authorities in the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region had said at least five people were killed when a single helicopter crashed in the region, saying some of the victims were members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a movement classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey. and its western allies.

The PKK had not confirmed this information and the causes of the tragedy had not been announced.

Among the victims was the head of the FDS anti-terrorist sector, Servan Kobani.

According to the FDS, the delegation was traveling to Iraqi Kurdistan to “exchange military and security information”.

The FDS has been at the forefront of the battle against the Islamic State jihadist group, which was driven out of its strongholds in Syria in 2019 with the help of the international coalition led by Washington. They are the de facto army of the Kurdish administration that controls northeastern Syria.

Turkey labels the main component of the FDS, the YPG, which it considers an offshoot of the PKK, as “terrorist”.