Turkey possibly banned flight repatriating dead French soldiers from Afghanistan

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey may have banned the flight repatriating the bodies of four French soldiers killed in Afghanistan from crossing its air space in retaliation for the Armenian Genocide bill recently passed by the French Senate, RFI reports.

Ankara introduced the initial sanctions against France in response to the both houses of the French parliament approving a law that declared it illegal to deny that the Armenian Genocide took place in Turkey during World War I.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyep Erdogan has replaced his official car, a Renault, by a Ford as a first sanction on France.

More seriously, two French warships and a military plane had to change their route after being denied access to Turkish waters or airspace, the French ambassador to Turkey said.

France will no longer ask for permission for military missions to cross over Turkey or through its waters until the spat about the law is resolved, he said.

However, a flight carrying a French minister was allowed to fly over Turkey, the embassy says.

“So it is highly likely that the flight that was redirected was the one that was bringing back the bodies of the soldiers killed in Afghanistan on January 20,” RFI’s website in French says, adding that the minister’s flight was probably that of Defense Minister Gérard Longuet, who went to Kabul on January 21.