A Kurdistan Regional Government spokesman expressed hope Wednesday that only a temporary "technical issue" led the Iraqi government to deny permission for Turkey's energy minister to fly to the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq.

Energy Minister Taner Yildiz's plane wasforced to turn around in mid-flight Tuesday. He was in a private plane flying to Irbil, the Kurdistan region's capital, to attend a three-day conference on oil and gas.

"We had applied for flight permits. We were issued one, and the plane was on the move," said a Turkish foreign ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to government protocol. "But in the meantime we were notified by the Iraqis that they have banned all VIP flights to Northern Iraq."

But Kurdistan Regional Government spokesman Safeen Dizayee told CNN on Wednesday that officials there hope the denial was only temporary.

"There are new regulations by the central government for private planes to enter Iraqi airspace, and apparently energy minister's plane had not complied with the new regulations" Dizayee said.

"Iraqi airspaces are completely controlled by the central government. The cabin crew of the Turkish minister's plane was directly in touch with Baghdad to get permission and Kurdistan Regional Government has no control on it" he added.

"We hope it is only a technical issue and it will be resolved soon," he said.

Iraqi government officials have not commented on the aborted flight.

The incident came at a time of heightened tension between Ankara and Baghdad.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Iraqi counterpart, Nuri al-Maliki, have engaged in a public war of words, accusing each other of pushing their respective countries towards civil war.



Soran Ali