Erbil

Iraqi and Kurdish forces have clashed in the town of Altun Kupri on the border of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, security official said, as Baghdad continues its offensive in the wake of a controversial referendum on Kurdish independence.

International flights to and from Iraq's Kurdistan region were set to end from 6:00 p.m. (11.00 a.m. ET) on Friday, after the central government imposed a ban in retaliation for the region's vote for independence, reported Reuters. 

A number of international carriers have announced they would halt flights to the Iraqi Kurdish region this week at the request of Baghdad, including Lebanese and Egyptian national carriers. 

Turkish Airlines has announced its flights would continue for now, as any formal request was not delivered to the company yet from Iraqi authorities. 

Iraq gave a three-day deadline to Kurdistan to give control over its airports. The measure is a response to the Iraqi Kurdistan independence referendum, reports BTV. 

The government may ban international flights to the country within 72 hours if the sites are not handed over to the central government.

The Kurdistan Regional Government has challenged Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to deliver on an offer to pay the cash-strapped region's bloated public payroll, suggesting the proposal had not been made in good faith. Abadi said in a televised interview earlier this week that he was prepared to cover the KRG payroll as long as it stopped exporting oil independently. 

A car bombing claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) killed three people on April 17 outside the U.S. consulate in Erbil, in a relatively rare attack in the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
  

Turkish private airline company Atlasjet has said it has been unable to make its Iraq flights since Jan. 1 due to several reasons outside of the company, although its planes are ready to operate.

Turkey’s Atlasjet has reached a preliminary deal with European planemaker Airbus to buy around 30 aircraft worth $3 billion at list prices as it expands in eastern Europe and central Asia, two people familiar with the matter said.

Turkish Chief Prosecutor Hasan Erbil met his Bulgarian counterpart Sotir Tsatsarov on Thursday, officials say.

The two delivered presentations on the structures of their respective institutions and discussed prospects for cooperation.

Erbil, who is on a three-day visit Bulgaria at the invitation of Tsatsatov, also met Deputy PM and Justice Minister Hristo Ivanov.

The İş Bankası Publishing House is preparing to mark the first anniversary of Turkish writer Leylâ Erbil’s death by publishing a compilation of her diaries.