Translated material
Interfax reported the possible cancellation of charters to Turkey
Charter flights to Turkey may be temporarily cancelled. This was reported by the Interfax news agency, citing an unnamed source. In connection with what such a decision can be made is unknown.
“A warning has been received about the possibility of a temporary suspension of charter flights of Russian airlines to Turkish airports,” the source said.
A RIA Novosti source said that the reason for the cancellation of charters could be the "difficult domestic political situation" in Turkey.
Irina Tyurina, press secretary of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (PCT), said that millions of Russians have already paid for tourist trips to Turkey.
The official website of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) says that the media are distributing the text of the working document of the Federal Air Transport Agency, which "is not a guide to action or a directive."
“This is not a ban in any way, this is a warning, this is a request from the regulator to take into account the possibility of the appearance of this factor, which may, with some probability, affect – or not affect – transportation,” an unnamed expert is quoted in the ATOR message.
The report says that on April 16, "parliamentary elections will be held in Turkey, the outcome of which is unpredictable." In reality, April 16 is not an election, but a referendum on constitutional reform. The question of turning Turkey from a parliamentary into a presidential republic has been put to a vote.
In March, Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Hussein Yayman said that Turkey plans to receive five million Russian tourists in 2017.
- Charter flights from Russia to Turkey were halted in 2015 after Turkish jets shot down a Russian Su-24 bomber on a combat mission in Syria in November. As part of the sanctions imposed by Russia, organized tourism to Turkey was banned. Regular flights between the two countries continued.
- In August 2016, the ban on charter flights was lifted. Russia began to gradually lift sanctions after negotiations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
- In early April 2017, Turkey supported an American strike on a Syrian air base following a chemical attack in the Syrian province of Idlib. Russia called the actions of the US military an act of aggression.