Ankara
endangered Russians by diverting a flight from Moscow to Damascus, Russia’s
Foreign Ministry said. Moscow expressed anger at not being informed that
Russians were involved in the incident, and that their diplomats were denied
access to them.
“We are
troubled that the lives of the passengers aboard the plane, including 17
Russian citizens were put at risk by this inappropriate act. Turkey did not
inform Russia that Russian citizens were among those detained on the plane. We
found this out through the press,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson
Aleksandr Lukashevich said.
The
Russian embassy in Turkey demanded access to the Russian citizens and
dispatched consular officers and doctors to the Ankara airport. Turkish
authorities, however, denied the Russian diplomats access to the passengers, in
violation of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The Russian
nationals were detained in the airport for eight hours.
The
Russian Foreign Ministry has demanded an explanation from Turkish authorities,
and that Ankara take steps to prevent future such incidents.
Turkey
defended the move by claiming that the plane could have carried “non-civilian
cargo.”
“There
were no arms and military equipment aboard the civilian aircraft – and could
not be,” a source in Russia’s military industry told Interfax news agency.
Russia
has maintained its military-technical cooperation with Syria, and that any arms
or military equipment sales to Damascus are conducted according to established
practice. The current law expressly forbids arms sales facilitated by civilian
aircraft.
'Air
piracy’
Syrian
transport minister Mahoumd Said said that Turkey’s detention of the passenger
aircraft is tantamount to “air piracy,” and violates civil aviation treaties,
Lebanon’s al-Manar TV channel reported.
Tensions
between Turkey and Syria rose after a Syrian shell killed five civilians in the
border town of Akcakale last week. Turkey returned fire and said it would
retaliate against any future provocation originating in Syria. NATO supported
Turkey’s move and pledged to defend the country should the Syrian conflict
spill across the border.
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