[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] On the 23rd (local time), Bloomberg News and others reported that Turkey has banned Russian military and civilian aircraft flying to Syria from passing through its airspace.
According to the report, Mevl?t ?avu?o?lu, Turkey's Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is on a tour of South American countries, announced this through the state broadcaster TRT and others, saying, "We have been granting airspace passage every three months, and this permission ends in April." He added, "Our president (Recep Tayyip Erdo?an) informed Russian President Vladimir Putin of the decision, and since then, the operation of (Russian aircraft) has been suspended."
He did not mention the reason for closing the airspace. Foreign media interpreted this as an effort to pressure Russia to resume negotiations with Ukraine. Minister ?avu?o?lu said, "Turkey is a country that does not participate in sanctions against Russia, but if (Russian) companies want to do business, they must comply with our laws and international law regulations."
This airspace closure is the first occurrence since Russia, which has intervened in the Syrian civil war in 2015 to support the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Turkey have closely cooperated.
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