Turkey refuses to provide its airspace for the transportation of humanitarian cargo to Armenia. The RA Civil Aviation Committee issued a statement about this.

“The Qatar Airways flight Los Angeles-Yerevan, which is carrying humanitarian aid to Armenia, scheduled for 15 October, will not take place, for which the airline did not state a valid reason. The humanitarian aid was sent by the Armenian-American community to civilians affected by the Artsakh-Azerbaijani war.

Qatar Airways informed the Civil Aviation Committee of Armenia about the cancellation of the flight on 14 October. The plane was supposed to pass through Turkish airspace, but Turkey is obstructing the humanitarian cargo to Armenia.

“The organization of a new flight route through other countries, such as the Russian Federation or Georgia, is a matter of hours, so the airline must find other ways to transport humanitarian aid. Information from reliable sources at this time suggests that Qatar Airways will not be able to transport the cargo. We also have grounds to claim that Turkey deliberately closed the air route. This is not the first time that Turkey has obstructed cargo transportation to Armenia. Even before the war, the country began to create obstacles, requiring airlines to provide a detailed list of cargo as it crossed its airspace. Although the provision of airspace is a sovereign right of each country, however, according to international practice, they require data only on dangerous goods to respond properly to emergencies (Chicago Convention, Article 5). This cargo, moreover, has passed the inspection stage,” Tatjik Rjazyan, Head of the Civil Aviation Department of Armenia said.

The Civil Aviation Committee of Armenia applied to the EUROCONTROL, an organization for aviation security, regarding the incident.

These days, several cargo shipments have been made to Armenia from the USA, France and Russia. Cargo transportation is mainly carried out in cooperation with the Civil Aviation Committee and Armenian air carriers.

Airlines do it on a non-profit basis (without profit).