Turkey closes airspace to Russian military aircraft to Syria: FM Çavuşoğlu

With its unique position of having friendly relations with both Russia and Ukraine, Turkey has won widespread praise for its push to end the war

Turkey has closed its airspace to Russian military and civilian flights to Syria after notifying Moscow, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Saturday.

“We were giving permissions in three-month intervals. The latest one was until April,” the minister said in an interview with the press during his flight to Latin America, stating that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had informed his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. “Henceforth the flights have stopped,” Çavuşoğlu added, saying that the process is being conducted through dialogue on both the Montreux Convention and other matters, Qazet.az reports.

Regarding the Russian oligarchs coming to Turkey, Çavuşoğlu said that Turkey is not participating in sanctions. “If a company wants to do business, they must comply by our and international law,” the minister added.

The foreign minister also touched on the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, saying there is a “comprehensive text” in the works as well as backdoor diplomacy running. “We also see there is a draft joint declaration in this process. The focus is on impartiality, security and guarantees,” adding that Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would need to reach the final decision.