An aide close to Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi revealed on Thursday that he will soon issue an order to lift the international flight ban off the Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s Erbil and Sulaimaniya airports.
Ihsan al-Shammari, head of the Iraqi Center for Political Thought, told Asharq Al-Awsat that he expected Abadi to lift the ban ahead of the Kurdish Newroz holiday, which falls on March 21.
The premier will also likely order that salaries of Kurdish employees at the health and education ministries be paid.
Shammari dismissed the recent extension of the flight ban imposed on the two airports, saying it was a routine measure.
“The renewal of the ban cannot bar the prime minister from lifting it,” he explained.
He explained that Iraq will likely end the ban after Kurdish authorities agreed to Baghdad’s condition to allow it to seize control of the airports and border-crossings and their revenues.
Abadi had announced on Tuesday that technical measures to restore Baghdad’s authority at the airports have gotten underway, adding that the salaries of Kurdistan employees will be paid soon.
The central government in Baghdad had imposed in September a ban on international flights to Iraqi Kurdistan in retaliation to the region’s vote for independence earlier that month.
Shammari ruled out the possibility that tense ties between Baghdad and Erbil in wake of the vote would affect Abadi’s chances to win a second term in office.
Elections are scheduled for May.
He implied that there were “unannounced agreements between Abadi and several Kurdish sides.”
Kurdish MP Zana Saeed disagreed with Shammari, saying that the Kurds are unlikely to agree to a second term for Abadi.
“The majority of Kurds are upset with his policies. Just as they deprived Ibrahim al-Jaafari and Nouri al-Maliki of a new term in the past, they will likely do the same to Abadi,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.
