Al-Monitor: Barzani demanded an end to these flights

Reports 10:13 AM - 2023-04-09

Sulaymaniyah International Airport.

The US-based Al-Monitor reported that the Kurdish Prime Minister Masrour Barzani has complained to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken about the visits of members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) between north and east Syria and Sulaymaniyah.

Well placed sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Al-Monitor that KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani had complained about the air transport of SDF personnel between northeast Syria and Sulaimaniyah to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. 

The sources said Barzani demanded an end to these flights. The US has denied any connection to the helicopters involved in the crash. CENTCOM does however facilitate travel for senior Syrian Kurdish officials when it involves US-led coalition business.

Al-Monitor: Sulaymaniyah Airport flight suspension is revenge

According to the US-based Al-Monitor website, Ankara closed its airspace to flights to and from Sulaymaniyah International Airport in apparent retaliation for deepening ties between a prominent Iraqi Kurdish political organization and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which Turkey equates to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

The victims belong to the US-allied SDF 

Al-Monitor reported that the move came after a helicopter carrying Kurdish militants crashed en route to Sulaymaniyah, the stronghold of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of the two major political blocs influential in Iraqi Kurdistan. Nine Kurdish militants died during the crash. The US-allied, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces identified the victims as members of their elite forces.

Masrour Barzani has spoken

According to Al-Monitor's report, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said the AS350 Eurocopter belonged to the PUK and was carrying five PKK members. The KRG is dominated by the PUK's main rival, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). Unlike its rival, the KDP, led by Masoud Barzani, enjoys close relations with Ankara.
 

SDF and the PKK are not the same

Turkey equates the SDF with the PKK and presses Washington to cut its ties with the group. Headquartered in the northern Iraqi mountains, the PKK has been fighting the Turkish government for self-rule inside Turkey for nearly four decades. Along with Ankara and several other Western capitals, Washington also considers the PKK a terrorist organization but argues that the SDF and the PKK are not the same.

Ties between the PUK and Kurdish militants have grown stronger in recent months. PUK President Bafel Talabani visited Kurdish-held northern Syria late last year and met with SDF Commander-in-Chief Mazlum Kobane. Servan Kobane, Mazlum's nephew, was one of the victims killed in the accident. The Turkish Foreign Ministry said Ankara would closely follow the developments in the region before re-evaluating the decision on July 3.

The Kurdistan Region's Security Council suspended the flights

Former Iraqi parliament lawmaker Hoshyar Abdullah said on his Facebook account:

"The accusations against Sulaymaniyah that were in the headlines of the KDP's newspapers in Erbil, as well as the statement of the Kurdistan Region's Security Council, are largely repeated in the Turkish Foreign Ministry's explanation of why the flights were suspended, and it is likely that the Turkish Foreign Ministry's information was derived from the same statement that the KDP media paid a lot of attention to!"

If it could be slightly concerned about the Region's security

Abdullah added:

"If the facts in the Security Council statement were completely accurate, should they be publicized and covered by the media, or should something else be done about it?" "Anybody who knows the security alphabet and is even slightly worried about the security of the region will not allow political party turmoil to compel him to conspire against a city in his region through a country like Turkey!"

The PUK is ready to fight ISIS

According to the PUKMEDIA Monitoring Department, "The PUK is a Kurdish force that stands up for all of Kurdistan. The PUK is prepared to assist in defending against the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists if they pose a threat to Kurds and Kurdistan. It is prepared to assist other areas and regions in removing the threat posed by terrorists, just as it did with Erbil and Kobanê. This is what is meant by "genuine patriotism," as opposed to shouting false patriotic anthems while secretly supporting the Kurds and leading the charge to destroy them."
 
 

PUKMEDIA