Turkey closes its airspace to Russian planes en route to Syria

Turkey has closed its airspace to Russian planes bound for Syria, Turkish media reported on Saturday (April 23rd) citing Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. He did not specify the reason for this decision. The head of Turkish diplomacy said he passed it on to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who forwarded it to President Vladimir Putin. The ban will be valid for three months, said the Turkish minister, with authorizations being renewed quarterly. Russia, one of the main supporters of the Damascus regime since the start of the civil war in 2011, did not react immediately.

A member of NATO and an ally of Ukraine, Turkey has been trying since the start of the war in Ukraine to facilitate mediation between Moscow and kyiv and has so far refused to join in Western sanctions against Russia, concerned to keep an open line with the Kremlin. Turkey has thus twice hosted direct negotiations between the two parties, on March 10 at ministerial level in Antalya and on March 29 in Istanbul.