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Agence France Presse
October 15, 2012 Monday 2:46 PM GMT
Armenian plane allowed to take off after security check: official
ANKARA, Oct 15 2012
Turkey gave the greenlight on Monday for the departure of an Armenian
plane to Syria's battered second city of Aleppo after ordering it to
land for a routine security check, officials said.
Officials said no suspect cargo turned up during the stop in eastern
Erzurum city, unlike last week when Turkey forced a Damascus bound
Syrian civlian flight from Moscow to land in Ankara, sparking tension
with Russia and Syria.
"The plane's cargo was loaded back. Its doors were closed... The plane
will take off in about an hour," Ozgur Arslan, deputy governor of
Erzurum province in eastern Turkey, told Anatolia news agency.
Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc earlier said the plane was
allowed to resume its journey after the inspection.
"We know a plane from Armenia was forced to land in (eastern) Erzurum
city... but it was allowed to resume its journey," the state news
agency quoted Arinc as saying.
Arinc said that the cargo on the plane matched the manifest handed in
by the crew prior to the flight but the security check showed "how
well Turkey performed its duty."
The Air Armenia cargo plane was required to stop over in Turkey for
routine security checks on its cargo in line with regulations
concerning non-scheduled flights, a foreign ministry official said
earlier.
Armenia confirmed that the landing of the plane, which both countries
said was carrying humanitarian aid, was pre-arranged.
The incident came just days after Turkey forced a Syrian plane flying
in from Russia to land at Ankara airport because of what it called
suspect cargo, triggering a row with Moscow and Damascus.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the cargo contained military
equipment for the Syrian defence ministry, but Russia said it was
dual-purpose radar equipment which was not banned by international
conventions.
Turkey and Syria closed their airspaces to each other's civilian
flights at the weekend.
The Armenian plane was carrying aid as part of a campaign called "Help
a Brother", one of its organisers said.
"The humanitarian cargo included foodstuffs like buckwheat, rice,
sugar, pasta and so on," Vahan Hovannisian, a lawmaker from the
nationalist Armenian Dashnaktsutiun party, told AFP.
There is a small Armenian community in Syria -- between 60,000 and
100,000 people, according to estimates -- most of whom live in Aleppo.
Armenia also has close ties with Syria's major ally Russia while its
relations with Turkey have long been strained.
Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic ties and their border has been
closed for more than a decade.
Ankara has taken an increasingly strident line towards the regime in
Damascus since a shell fired from the Syrian side of the border killed
five Turkish civilians on October 3.
burs-fo/ck/lc
October 15, 2012 Monday 2:46 PM GMT
Armenian plane allowed to take off after security check: official
ANKARA, Oct 15 2012
Turkey gave the greenlight on Monday for the departure of an Armenian
plane to Syria's battered second city of Aleppo after ordering it to
land for a routine security check, officials said.
Officials said no suspect cargo turned up during the stop in eastern
Erzurum city, unlike last week when Turkey forced a Damascus bound
Syrian civlian flight from Moscow to land in Ankara, sparking tension
with Russia and Syria.
"The plane's cargo was loaded back. Its doors were closed... The plane
will take off in about an hour," Ozgur Arslan, deputy governor of
Erzurum province in eastern Turkey, told Anatolia news agency.
Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc earlier said the plane was
allowed to resume its journey after the inspection.
"We know a plane from Armenia was forced to land in (eastern) Erzurum
city... but it was allowed to resume its journey," the state news
agency quoted Arinc as saying.
Arinc said that the cargo on the plane matched the manifest handed in
by the crew prior to the flight but the security check showed "how
well Turkey performed its duty."
The Air Armenia cargo plane was required to stop over in Turkey for
routine security checks on its cargo in line with regulations
concerning non-scheduled flights, a foreign ministry official said
earlier.
Armenia confirmed that the landing of the plane, which both countries
said was carrying humanitarian aid, was pre-arranged.
The incident came just days after Turkey forced a Syrian plane flying
in from Russia to land at Ankara airport because of what it called
suspect cargo, triggering a row with Moscow and Damascus.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the cargo contained military
equipment for the Syrian defence ministry, but Russia said it was
dual-purpose radar equipment which was not banned by international
conventions.
Turkey and Syria closed their airspaces to each other's civilian
flights at the weekend.
The Armenian plane was carrying aid as part of a campaign called "Help
a Brother", one of its organisers said.
"The humanitarian cargo included foodstuffs like buckwheat, rice,
sugar, pasta and so on," Vahan Hovannisian, a lawmaker from the
nationalist Armenian Dashnaktsutiun party, told AFP.
There is a small Armenian community in Syria -- between 60,000 and
100,000 people, according to estimates -- most of whom live in Aleppo.
Armenia also has close ties with Syria's major ally Russia while its
relations with Turkey have long been strained.
Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic ties and their border has been
closed for more than a decade.
Ankara has taken an increasingly strident line towards the regime in
Damascus since a shell fired from the Syrian side of the border killed
five Turkish civilians on October 3.
burs-fo/ck/lc