The Turkish Civil Aviation Administration stated that citizens from Syria, Yemen and Iraq will no longer be allowed to purchase air tickets from Turkey to Minsk. Belarus And the European Union’s incident of thousands of people arriving at the Polish border.
The European Union said that Belarus is encouraging hundreds of people fleeing war-torn parts of the world to try to cross the border, and may impose new sanctions on Belarus and airlines carrying migrants as early as Monday.
Turkey and its flagship airline Turkish Airlines have been accused of causing an increase in the number of arrivals, but Turkey has refused to accept the accusation.
“Regarding the issue of illegal border crossings between the European Union and Belarus, it has been decided not to sell air tickets or not to take planes to citizens of Iraq, Syria and Yemen who wish to travel to Belarus from our airports,” the aviation authority wrote on Twitter.
Belavia, the state-owned airline of Belarus, recently increased the number of flights between Turkey and Minsk “According to the decision of the Turkish authorities, Iraq, Syria, Yemen From November 12, 2021, flights from Turkey to Belarus will not be accepted for transportation,” it said in a statement on its website.
Belavia has previously denied involvement in human trafficking.
When asked who and when it prevented travel, Belavia said: “Belavia does not want to specify the name of the travel agency because we cannot be 100% sure that these agencies are consciously involved in trafficking in immigrants. Belavia blocked multiple BSP IATA [the International Air Transport Association’s billing and settlement plan] The agency takes precautions based on its activities that violate the Belavia booking policy. Such activities may also promote trafficking.
“These examples include’hidden groups’-several individual bookings on the same flight where 7-9 passengers are citizens of’high-risk’ countries, or [where] The agent did not specify the passenger’s passport details in this type of booking. Or in the case of a reservation originally created for a passenger with a European name, before the ticket is issued, the agent changes it to an Arabic name. “
Hundreds of people now live in tent camps on the border between Belarus and Poland, where the temperature is close to freezing. PolandA state of emergency enforced by hundreds of soldiers has been established in the border area, denying them entry.
Late Thursday, the U.S. and European delegations to the UN Security Council Urges action against Belarusian actions, Described the immigration crisis as “well-planned” and stated that Minsk is endangering the people “for political purposes.”
After the emergency meeting on the crisis, the Western delegation of the New York Security Council issued a joint statement condemning “Belarus for political purposes, meticulously planning to put their lives and well-being at risk.”
They stated that Belarus’s purpose in doing so was to “destabilize the external borders of neighboring countries and the EU, and divert attention from its growing human rights violations.”
“This strategy is unacceptable and requires a strong response and cooperation from the international community to hold Belarus accountable,” the Western statement said, but did not mention any specific measures to punish Belarus.
“This shows how the Lukashenko regime has become a threat to regional stability. We call on the Belarusian authorities to stop these inhumane acts and not to put people’s lives in danger,” it added.
Reuters contributed to this report
