Airfield of death turned into commercial airport
An airfield in Iraq that desposed dictator Saddam Hussein used to launch chemical weapons on the Kurdish people is being transformed into a £22 million commercial airport.
Back in 1988 Iraqi aircraft took off from the airfield near Sulaimaniya and dropped their deadly payload on the Halabja region of Iraqi Kurdistan, killing more than 4,000 people. It was part of the brutel repression of the minroty Kurds by Saddam.
Reuters news agency says a glass and steel terminal building is now being constructed, which the Kurds hope will be the focal point for a burgeoning tourist industry, as well as the economic mainspring for the region’s future development.
Site operations manager Tahir Qadir told the agency: “The airport will be used for tourism, trading and making relationships between Kurds and the world.”
The scheme is a joint project between local Kurdush authorities and the Turkish constructon company AGS, and will initially handle four flights a day to Istanbul or Amman from next January.
Phil Davies
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