Turkey forces Armenian plane bound for Syria land

In the morning on November 8 Turkish authorities forced the Armenian transport plane, bound with humanitarian aid to Syria to land at the airport in Erzurum in the north-east. It is reported by Reuters citing local media.

Turkish troops withdrew humanitarian cargo for inspection. Official comments from Ankara have not followed. Yerevan also says nothing on the incident.

A similar incident occurred on 15 October 2012, when the Turkish Air Force ordered an Armenian transport plane to land in Erzurum. Then the stop of the aircraft had been previously arranged with Yerevan.

A week earlier, a similar incident occurred involving a Syrian passenger plane en route from Moscow to Damascus. F-16 fighters of the Turkish Air Force escorted the civilian vessel, forcing it to land in Ankara. During the inspection on board the plane a "military cargo" was found, said the official Turkish representatives. At the same time, the Russian Foreign Ministry categorically denied all of the allegations, saying that the plane did not carry prohibited goods. Turkish soldiers seized part of the shipment, and then the plane was allowed to continue flying.

Moscow and Ankara continue negotiations on the return of the goods confiscated by the Turks. According to some media reports, it is a product of the Tula defense design company, reports RBC. -0