Turkish minister’s plane denied permission to land in Arbil

11 years ago | Posted in: Latest Politics News | 498 Views

A plane carrying Turkish Energy Minister Taner Y?ld?z was refused permission to land in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil, Reuters reported on Tuesday, a move that could fuel already heightened tensions between Iraq and Turkey.

The plane reportedly landed in the Turkish province of Kayseri.

The state-run Anatolia news agency said the crew of the Prime Ministry-owned plane carrying Y?ld?z and his delegation received the news that the permission was denied by Iraqi officials minutes after the plane took off from ?stanbul Atatürk Airport. Anatolia said Baghdad denied the request “due to technical problems.”

Iraq’s move comes on the heels of recent tensions between the Turkish and Iraqi central governments, which have soured significantly in the recent past due to oil agreements Turkey signed with the Kurdish administration without the consent of the Iraqi government. Turkey independently imports oil from Iraq’s Kurdish region through a twin pipeline running from Kirkuk to the Mediterranean oil terminal of Ceyhan. Baghdad has warned Turkey that its separate deal in the region could damage trade relations between Iraq and Turkey.

Also in August, The Iraqi central government denied a request for a visa from Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chairman Devlet Bahçeli, who was planning to visit Kirkuk during the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

The Iraqi government had earlier announced that it had decided to reconsider ties with Turkey after Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu paid a surprise visit on Aug. 1 to Kirkuk, an oil-rich Iraqi city claimed by both the central government and the country’s autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), without first consulting central Iraqi authorities.

The control of Kirkuk, a city populated by Kurds, Turkmen and Arabs, has long been a matter of contention between the Iraqi central government and Iraqi Kurds, who hope to annex the city to their autonomous region in the north. Kirkuk is currently under the control of the Iraqi government.

ref: http://www.todayszaman.com

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