Turkey has closed its airspace to Russian civilian and navy planes flying to Syria, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu became quoted as announcing Saturday via way of means of nearby media.
The statement marks one of the most powerful responses up to now via way of means of Turkey, which has cultivated near ties with Moscow regardless of being a member of the NATO defence alliance, to Russia’s -month navy attack on Ukraine.
“We closed the airspace to Russia’s navy planes — or even civilian ones — flying to Syria. They had till April, and we requested in March,” Turkish media quoted Cavusoglu as announcing.
Cavusoglu stated he conveyed the choice to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who then relayed it to President Vladimir Putin.
“One or days later, they stated: Putin has issued an order, we can now no longer fly anymore,” Cavusoglu became quoted as telling Turkish newshounds aboard his aircraft to Uruguay.
Cavusoglu brought that the ban might live in area for 3 months.
There became no instant reaction to Turkey’s statement from Russia, which collectively with Iran has been a essential supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad all through the war-torn country’s civil war.
Turkey has subsidized Syrian rebels all through the conflict.
Ankara’s members of the family with Moscow in short imploded after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane close to the Turkish-Syrian border in 2015.