ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraqi aviation authorities have approved a proposal to rename Sulaimani International Airport to the Jalal Talabani International Airport in honor of the late Kurdish leader.

In a letter dated September 8, Hussein Ali Hussein Jaber, director of the Iraqi airports management department at the Ministry of Transport, informed the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority of the ministry’s and the Prime Minister’s Office’s approval to change the name of the Sulaimani airport.

The change was proposed by the President Jalal Talabani Foundation, a non-governmental organization dedicated to immortalizing the life, works, and writings of Talabani and supporting community development project opportunities across the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.

The construction of Sulaimani International Airport began in late 2003, and it was inaugurated in July 2005 by none other than Talabani himself.

Known affectionately as Mam Jalal (Uncle Jalal) among Kurds, Talabani dedicated most of his life to the Kurdish cause, with his decades-long career spanning from humble beginnings as a Peshmerga in the early 1960s taking up arms against the Iraqi state, to co-founding the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in 1975, and to reaching the zenith of his political journey in becoming the first Kurdish president of Iraq in 2005.

His tenure as Iraqi president saw the late leader seek to quash internecine political disputes and encourage political unity at a time when Iraq's different confessional groups were embroiled in a bloody civil war.

A fearless fighter, an astute negotiator, and a charismatic leader, Talabani is widely regarded as one of the most influential politicians in the history of the Kurdistan Region and remains a highly respected figure by all ethnic and religious communities throughout Iraq.

Mam Jalal died in Berlin, Germany, on October 3, 2017, due to complications caused by a stroke he suffered five years prior. Friday marks the eighth anniversary of the Kurdish leader’s passing.