Turkey closes its airspace to Russian planes

Turkey has closed its airspace to Russian planes bound for Syria, Turkish media reported Saturday, April 23 quoting Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. He did not explain the reason for that decision.

“We closed the airspace to Russia’s military planes — and even civilian ones — flying to Syria. They had until April, and we asked in March,” Turkish media quoted Cavusoglu as saying.

Cavusoglu said he conveyed the decision to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who then relayed it to President Vladimir Putin.

“One or two days later, they said: Putin has issued an order, we will not fly anymore,” Cavusoglu was quoted as telling Turkish reporters aboard his plane to Uruguay.

Cavusoglu added that the ban would stay in place for three months.

There was no immediate response to Turkey’s announcement from Russia, which together with Iran has been a crucial supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the war-torn country’s civil war.

Turkey has backed Syrian rebels during the conflict.

Ankara’s relations with Moscow briefly imploded after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border in 2015