Turkish Pegasus asks for Armenian aviation authority’s permission to start operating flights between Istanbul and Yerevan
YEREVAN, Jan. 4. /ARKA/. Turkish airline Pegasus has officially asked the Civil Aviation Committee of Armenia for permission to operate Yerevan-Istanbul flights, spokesperson of the Armenian Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Sona Harutyunyan said today.
According to her, the airline wants to operate two flights a week starting in February. She said Pegasus’ was being examined by the Civil Aviation Committee and the decision will be made public within a reasonable time.
Earlier Armenia's aviation authorities have allowed Flyone Armenia airline to operate charter flights on the Yerevan-Istanbul-Yerevan route. Chairman of the airline’s Board Aram Ananyan said they were waiting for Turkish aviation authorities' permission.
On December 16, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara was considering the applications of Turkish and Armenian airlines for Istanbul-Yerevan-Istanbul flights. Turkish media quoted Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Adil Karaismayoglu, as saying earlier that Armenia and Turkey will resume flights after a 2.5-year break.
Although Turkey was one of the first countries to recognize Armenia’s independence from the former Soviet Union, the countries have no diplomatic ties and Turkey shut down their common border in 1993, in a show of solidarity with Azerbaijan which was locked in a conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Turkey also refuses to recognize the Armenian genocide, committed during 1915-1923 when an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were massacred by the Ottoman government. The overwhelming majority of historians widely view the event as genocide.
In 2009, Ankara and Yerevan reached an agreement in Zurich to establish diplomatic relations and to open their joint border, but Turkey later said it could not ratify the deal until Armenia withdrew from Nagorno-Karabakh.
In 2020, Turkey strongly backed Azerbaijan in the six-week conflict with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh which ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal that saw Azerbaijan gain control of a significant part of Nagorno-Karabakh. -0-
