After 2 Restrictions, the Aircraft Transporting Pashinyan is Allowed to Enter Turkish Airspace: Hetq

On April 25, following the unveiling of the 'Nemesis' monument in Yerevan, Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu announced the prohibition of Armenian aircraft traveling through Turkish airspace to third countries. Later, the same official indicated that the ban would also apply to aircraft transporting Armenian VIPs, specifically referring to the government plane serving the Prime Minister, the President, and other high-ranking officials of Armenia. However, recently we have witnessed a contrasting scenario to Cavusoglu's statements, as reported by Hetq.

Despite Turkey's discriminatory approach in the use of its airspace being contrary to the Chicago Convention regulating civil aviation, Turkey has long demonstrated its prioritization of its own political interests and motives over compliance with international conventions and obligations. It should be noted that from 2020 to 2022, Turkey also impeded not only state aircraft but also those of private operators from Armenia. In 2022, the sole state aircraft resumed transit flights over Turkish airspace, but other aircraft registered in Armenia and operated by various companies and individuals faced obstacles to conducting transit flights through Turkish airspace, often forcing them to choose alternative routes bypassing Turkey.

In other words, prior to Cavusoglu's most recent statements, non-state Armenian-registered aircraft already encountered challenges accessing Turkish airspace. However, the novelty in the official's latest statement is that the restriction would now extend to aircraft registered in other countries but flying under the name of Armenian companies. This particularly pertains to aircraft operated by 'Fly One Armenia,' registered in Moldova, which were conducting flights to France but were banned by Turkey from conducting transit flights following the unveiling of the 'Nemesis' monument. Now, these Fly One Armenia flights are organized under the names of partner airlines to transit through Turkish airspace, although it is essentially the Armenian side that carries out the transport.

On the other hand, Turkey does not prohibit the operation of Fly One Armenia's Yerevan-Istanbul-Yerevan flights, meaning the restriction only applies to transit flights to third countries over Turkish airspace. Additionally, on May 3, Armenian Parliament Speaker Alen Simonian traveled to Turkey on a Yerevan-Ankara-Yerevan flight to participate in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Parliamentary Assembly meeting. Cavusoglu mentioned concerning this that as the host country, Turkey could not prohibit the arrival of a delegation from a member state of the organization.

Coinciding with Cavusoglu's recent statements in May, Nikol Pashinyan traveled to Europe twice, to Prague (on May 4) and Brussels (on May 13). These and the returning flights were organized not through Turkish airspace to Europe, but with quite a detour, during which the Armenian government plane crossed the airspace of several countries, including Georgia, Russia, Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, and the Netherlands. It is worth noting that during his time in Prague, Pashinyan granted an interview to Radio Free Europe, stating that the decision to install the 'Nemesis' monument was made not by the Government but by the municipal authorities of Yerevan; however, he considers that decision and its implementation to be wrong. On May 28, Pashinyan congratulated Erdogan on his re-election as President of Turkey.

On May 31, a delegation led by Pashinyan left Yerevan for the second summit of the European Political Community in the capital of Moldova, Chisinau. When departing and returning to Yerevan on the night of June 1-2, the Armenian government plane transporting the delegation flew over both Turkish and Romanian airspace. Thus, after two previous restrictions, Turkey did not obstruct the entry of the Armenian government aircraft into its airspace this time. How future flights of this aircraft will be organized to transit Turkish skies, if needed, will depend on the situational dispositions and decisions of our western neighbor.