According to a spokesman from its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 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.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi agreed to lift a ban on international air traffic to the Kurdistan Region on Tuesday, in a decree which said international flights could resume within one week.