Turkey Bans Transit of Cargo Meant for Armenia and Georgia Through Its Airspace, Routed via Russia

The Turkish aviation authorities continue their arbitrary practices by obstructing flights related to Armenia and the free movement of aircraft, reports Hetq. The media outlet has previously addressed the artificial obstacles created by Turkey. Specifically, since September 9, 2020, Turkey has prohibited transit flights of aircraft registered in Armenia (bearing the national mark EK of Armenia) through its airspace, while not obstructing those same aircraft from landing in its territory.

From July 2020 until March 2022, Turkey also restricted transit air travel for the Armenian government’s aircraft. The airspace was again closed to the governmental jet, which serves the Prime Minister, President, and other high-ranking officials, in May 2023 after a monument to the participants of the “Nemesis” operation was unveiled in Yerevan. As a result, Nikol Pashinyan had to travel to Europe twice by circumventing Turkish airspace.

During that time, he stated that the monument to “Nemesis” was installed not through a decision of the Armenian government, but by the Yerevan city council, although he considered that decision and its implementation to be incorrect. On May 28, 2023, Pashinyan congratulated Erdoğan on his re-election as president. Following this, on May 31, he was able to travel to Moldova through Turkish airspace, indicating that the ban on the Armenian governmental aircraft was lifted.

Although the governmental jet currently faces no problems entering Turkish territory, everything remains relative, as the country can create arbitrary obstacles for flights linked to Armenia at any time based on political and economic interests. Moreover, such actions are prohibited by the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, which states that every member state of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) cannot apply discriminatory approaches to the use of its airspace.

In this regard, if there are limitations or bans imposed on the use of airspace for certain reasons, they must apply to all other states' aircraft regardless of their national affiliation. However, Turkey specifically targets aircraft with Armenian registration and those operating for Armenian airlines.

We have had the opportunity to report that our western neighbor has also obstructed transit flights through its airspace for aircraft registered in other countries but working for Armenian airlines on a rental basis. This was witnessed both in 2022 and 2023.

According to internationally accepted procedures, information about restrictions or bans on the use of airspace is published through the aviation information packages of the respective state (in this case, Turkey), but Turkey does not release such information (NOTAM) as it cannot show discrimination against the aircraft of a specific state. Nevertheless, that has been the case for the past four years.

The latest evidence occurred yesterday. The Ethiopian Airlines “Boeing 777F” cargo plane (Ethiopian registration: ET-APU) flying from Belgium’s Liège to Yerevan, transiting through Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania, entered Bulgarian airspace, from where it was supposed to pass through Turkish airspace before arriving in Yerevan (flight number: ET 3584).

However, tracking websites show that the aircraft made several loops in Bulgarian airspace and, after not receiving entry permission from Turkey, turned back towards Vienna, where it made an intermediate landing and subsequently returned to Liège. Notably, before the flight, a plan is prepared (flight plan), in which permissions are obtained from all countries' aviation authorities whose airspace the aircraft will traverse. This means that the Ethiopian cargo plane had prior approval from Turkish aviation authorities to fly over Turkish airspace en route to Armenia, but, as can be seen, the Turks exhibited another act of arbitrariness at the last moment, causing the aircraft to be unable to arrive in Yerevan.

Hetq learned from the Armenian civil aviation committee that the Ethiopian cargo carrier had all the necessary permits but that Turkey prohibited entry into its airspace at the last moment. No further details were provided by the aviation committee.

In our conversation, some details were shared by Ovsanna Stepanyan, the director of the Armenian cargo carrier “Hayways.” According to her, the Ethiopian aircraft was primarily loaded with consumer goods purchased online, ordered by buyers in Armenia and Georgia. The Ethiopian flight was supposed to transport the cargo to Yerevan and return, while the part of the cargo meant for Georgia was supposed to be carried by Hayways' “Boeing 737-400” aircraft (Armenian registration: EK-HAY) to Tbilisi.