FlyOne, an Armenian airline, broke the news on 29 April, stating that it had to cancel some of its flights to and from Europe because of the sudden closure of Turkey’s airspace to Armenia.
On Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu told NTV that the closure was a response to the unveiling of a monument dedicated to members of Operation Nemesis.
He said that an exception would be made for Armenian parliamentary speaker Alen Simonyan, who arrived in Ankara on Wednesday to participate in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation organisation.
Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan responded to the news during a session of parliament on Wednesday, appearing to oppose the unveiling of the statue.
Armenia and Turkey have not had diplomatic relations since 1993; Turkey severed relations during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. Yerevan and Ankara first attempted to normalise relations in 2008, but failed after Turkey stipulated that normalisation should be contingent on the resolution of Armenia’s conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.
The United States, which has long advocated for the normalisation of relations between the two countries, condemned Turkey’s decision to close its airspace to Armenia.