Christian Science Monitor
Oct 15 2012
Turkey grounds Armenian plane in growing de facto air blockade of Syria
A week after raising Russian ire by grounding a plane traveling from
Russia to Syria, Turkey grounded an Armenian airliner – this time in a
routine check arranged in a recently inked agreement.
By Arthur Bright, Staff writer / October 15, 2012
A week after Turkey forced down a Syrian passenger jet allegedly
carrying illegal cargo, irking Russia and Syria, Turkey has brought
down an Armenian aircraft for inspection in an apparent expansion of a
de facto air blockade of Syria from the north.
The Turkish deputy prime minister said today that the Armenian plane,
which was reportedly carrying humanitarian aid, passed inspection and
was allowed to continue on to Syria, reports Reuters. Unlike the
earlier Syrian flight from Moscow, Armenian officials had been
informed ahead of time that the aircraft would be subject to
inspection, Turkish officials told Reuters. Armenian officials
confirmed this to news agency Armenpress.
The plane’s grounding appears to be part of an expansion of Turkish
efforts to do what it can to prevent weapons from reaching the regime
of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Over the weekend, Turkey and
Syria each banned the other’s aircraft from its own airspace.
Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Daily News reports that Armenia and Turkey
previously agreed that Armenia would provide humanitarian aid for
Syria as long as it allowed Turkey to do a routine security check on
every Syria-bound Armenian plane (the most direct flight path between
Armenia and Syria passes over eastern Turkey). Turkish Foreign
Ministry spokesman Tigran Balayan said the grounding was “nothing
extraordinary.”
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also slammed the United
Nations Security Council over the weekend for failing to act on the
Syrian crisis in accord with what he says is the world’s popular will,
writes The Guardian. Mr. Erdogan said that if the council was unable
to reach agreement on what to do about Syria because of the opposition
of one or two parties to intervention – a thinly veiled reference to
Russia and China, which have both vetoed previous Security Council
resolutions on Syria – the body should be reformed.
“If we leave the issue to the vote of one or two members of the
permanent five at the United Nations security council, then the
aftermath of Syria will be very hazardous and humanity will write it
down in history with unforgettable remarks,” Erdogan said. “It’s high
time to consider a structural change for international institutions,
especially for the UN security council.”
The situation in Syria has strained ties between Turkey and Russia,
whose relations have been warming since the end of the cold war.
Although Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Voice of Russia
that Turkish-Russian relations are “developing on a firm and solid
basis,” Russia’s intransigent support for the Assad regime is at odds
with Turkey and much of the world. This may be due to Russian
President Vladimir Putin’s personal suspicions of the West, The
Christian Science Monitor reported last week.
“Russia’s ongoing support for Assad is totally ideological,” says
[Alexander Golts, military columnist for the online newspaper
Yezhednevny Zhurnal]. “Putin is certain that all this turmoil with the
Arab Spring is the result of a CIA conspiracy, and he sees it as his
personal duty to struggle against it.”
The Monitor also notes that despite Russia’s insistence that there
were no weapons on board the Syrian plane, the legal situation
regarding the jet’s grounding remain murky.
“Russia’s position is that it’s illegal to force a plane to land in
this way. It’s only done if an aircraft diverges from its assigned
route or it represents a threat to the country it’s flying over,” he
says.
“On the other hand, it does seem that if the plane was carrying radar
parts from air defense systems, as reported, then that’s a military
cargo that shouldn’t be hauled aboard a civilian plane. Now it’s up to
lawyers to sort it out,” he adds.
In addition, Russia’s argument that there were no weapons on board may
be beside the point. According to Article 35 of the Convention on
International Civil Aviation, of which almost every UN member –
including Russia, Syria, and Turkey – are signatories, “No munitions
of war or implements of war may be carried in or above the territory
of a State in aircraft engaged in international navigation, except by
permission of such State.”
The convention does not define the terms “munitions of war or
implements of war,” but rather leaves them to be defined by each state
per its own regulations.
As a result, while Russia may be correct that the Syrian passenger
plane was transporting only radar parts – reportedly for an
anti-aircraft system – and not weapons or ammunition, those parts may
still run afoul of international law. While weapons and ammo are
undeniably “munitions of war,” Turkey could argue that an
anti-aircraft radar can also be considered an “implement of war,” as
its purpose is solely military (if defensive).
From: Baghdasarian