Turkey closes airspace to Russian planes flying to Syria FM

Turkey closes airspace to Russian planes flying to Syria: FM | news

According to local media, Cavusoglu conveyed the ban, which is to remain in effect for three months, to Moscow.

Turkey has closed its airspace to Russian civilian and military planes flying to Syria, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as saying by local media.

“We have closed the airspace to Russian military planes – and even civilian ones – flying to Syria. They had until April and we asked in March,” Turkish media quoted Cavusoglu as saying on Saturday.

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

“A day or two later it said: Putin gave an order, we don’t fly anymore,” Cavusoglu was quoted as saying to Turkish reporters on board his plane to Uruguay.

Cavusoglu added that the ban would remain in effect for three months.

There was no immediate reaction to Turkey’s announcement from Russia, which along with Iran was a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the war in the country.

Turkey has supported Syrian rebels during the conflict.

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

However, they had improved by the time Russia invaded Ukraine, which Turkey sees as a key trading partner and diplomatic ally.

Turkey has tried to mediate an end to the conflict by hosting meetings between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Istanbul and a meeting between Lavrov and Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in Antalya.

Ankara is now trying to arrange a summit between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Istanbul, although Cavusoglu admitted that the prospects for such talks are slim at this point.

“If they want a deal, it’s inevitable,” Cavusoglu was quoted as saying. “It may not happen for long, but it can happen suddenly.”