Turkey closes airspace to Iraq’s Sulaimaniyah, cites PKK presence

Turkey has closed its airspace to planes taking off from and landing in Iraq’s northern city of Sulaimaniyah, citing what it said was the heightened presence of Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) fighters there, according to a spokesman from its Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The closure, announced on Wednesday, began on the same day and will continue until July 3 with the possibility of an extension, the spokesman said, adding that there had been PKK “infiltration” of Sulaymaniyah airport.