Iraq and Turkey have agreed to allow flights between their countries , ending a mutual ban that began with a dispute about how an Iraqi government oil company owed millions of dollars to Turkey , Iraqi officials said Thursday . Turkish planes resumed flights to Iraq on Thursday and were landing at the Baghdad airport , Iraq 's Ministry of Transportation said . Iraqi airliners will begin landing in Istanbul on Friday , officials said . On Monday , Iraq banned all Turkish flights from landing in the country , including the semiautonomous Kurdish region , as a response to a similar ban last week in Turkey against Iraqi flights . However , a Turkish government official denied that Ankara blocked Iraqi planes . The official did say that Turkey warned that if Iraq 's State Oil Marketing Organization did not pay the $ 3 million owed to his country , the country would ban Iraqi aircraft . Both countries agreed to drop the bans after negotiations . After years of the U.S.-led war in Iraq , Turkey 's flagship carrier Turkish Airlines was one of the first international companies to begin direct flights to Baghdad . Increasingly , Turkey has grown as a major international gateway for commerce and travel to and from its Iraqi neighbor .
Iraq and Baghdad agree to drop flight bans against each other . Dispute began over a millions of dollars debt that Turkey says Turkey owes . Kurdish planes begin landing again in Turkey on Thursday .