Turkey has forced an Armenian aircraft heading to the Syrian city of Aleppo to land in the eastern province of Erzurum for security checks on its cargo, a Turkish official says.
“The civilian plane carrying humanitarian aid from Armenia to Aleppo asked for permission to use Turkish airspace,” AFP quoted a foreign ministry official as saying on Monday.
“We gave the permission on condition that the plane takes a technical landing and it will take off if the cargo is clear after security checks,” the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, added.
This is while Turkey’s Milliyet newspaper said in a report that the Armenian plane was intercepted by Turkish fighter jets.
A similar move was taken against a Syrian plane on October 10, when Turkish fighter jets forced a passenger plane heading to Damascus from Moscow to land in the capital Ankara.
The Airbus A320 was intercepted as it entered Turkish airspace and was reportedly carrying 35 passengers, including 17 Russian nationals.
Turkish foreign minister said the decision was made based on information that the aircraft might be transporting “certain equipment in breach of civil aviation rules.”
The move irked Russia, which demanded that Turkish officials provide an explanation, and infuriated Damascus, where the transport minister condemned Ankara’s move as an act of “air piracy [which] contradicts civil aviation treaties.”
Syrian aviation officials have vowed to pursue the case and to make a formal complaint about the Turkish action in the international fora.
Presstv
