Turkey-Iraq air dispute resolved

ANKARA- Hürriyet Daily News

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Turkey and Iraq resolved a nearly one day long flight dispute late yesterday following talks between officials from both countries. Mutual flights from Turkey and Iraq have restarted but the resolution is temporary for now, according to a statement by the Turkish economy ministry.

“Upon talks, the Iraqi civil aviation authority lifted the ban on Turkish planes for a week. Thus, the planes of both countries started [mutual] flights,” said the statement.

Iraq banned all Turkish flights from landing in the country starting from 11:45 p.m. on Nov 20 in response to a dispute over nearly $20 million of debt owed by an Iraqi government oil company to Turkey. Iraqi Transportation Ministry spokesman Karim al-Nuri said the decision to block Turkish planes from Iraq was in response to a Turkish threat to seize Iraqi planes over a two-decade-old debt. In return, Turkey also banned the landing of Iraqi Airways planes.

The four Turkish companies are scheduled to hold talks with the Iraqi authorities for a final solution, the statement said