Çavuşoğlu: Turkish air space closed to planes carrying troops from Russia to Syria
Turkey has closed its airspace to Russian civilian and military planes flying to Syria, Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu stressed in the televised remarks on Saturday. "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," the Turkish top diplomat said in a statement.
- World
- Reuters
- Published Date: 07:41 | 23 April 2022
- Modified Date: 09:02 | 23 April 2022
Turkish air space has been closed to military and civilian planes carrying troops from Russia to Syria after consultation with Moscow, Turkey's state-run broadcaster TRT Haber cited Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu as saying on Saturday.
NATO member Turkey has good relations with both Russia and Ukraine and has sought to mediate in the war between them.
"We closed airspace to Russia's military planes and even to civilian planes going to Syria and carrying soldiers," Çavuşoğlu was quoted as saying to reporters on a plane en route to Uruguay. He said permission had been given for three month periods until April, and then the flights stopped.
He said talks were continuing between Russia and Ukraine and the sides were working towards a draft joint declaration.
Çavuşoğlu said if progress is made in negotiations, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had agreed that a meeting could be held in Turkey.
- Drogba loses bid to become Ivorian federation president
- Turkey wants to further develop relations with Uruguay: Çavuşoğlu
- Six civilians killed in Russian strikes in Ukraine's Lugansk region
- Zelensky slams UN chief's plan to visit Moscow before Kyiv
- Suspect found dead after shooting 4, causing DC lockdowns