ANKARA: Turkey’s foreign ministry on Thursday said that it had refused to allow a Russian reconnaissance plane to overfly its territory near Syria, citing a disagreement over the itinerary plan, as relations between the two countries hit a post-Cold War low.
The foreign ministry’s statement came a day after Russia accused Turkey of breaching the Open Skies treaty by refusing the plane access.
“An agreement could not be reached on the itinerary for the reconnaissance flight requested by the Russian Federation for 2-5 February 2016,” the ministry said.
Moscow had said Wednesday that the Russian plane’s itinerary had been transmitted to the Turkish army in advance but authorisation was refused with Ankara.
The 2002 Open Skies treaty, signed by over 30 nations including Russia, Turkey, the EU and the US, establishes a programme of unarmed aerial surveillance flights giving all participants the ability to gather information about military forces and activities of concern to them.
