Belavia, the state airline of Belarus, announced that with immediate effect it will no longer carry citizens of Syria, Yemen and Iraq between Turkey and Belarus. Boarding should be denied to them. Those affected can have the ticket price reimbursed.

This is by no means the result of the Lukashenko regime giving in, but an order from the Turkish government. Among other things, this prohibits Belavia from transporting citizens of the countries mentioned above on flights from Turkey to Belarus. Furthermore, Turkey is now stipulating that one-way tickets to Belarus may no longer be sold. The latter condition applies to all passengers and all airlines.

The Bosporus state has another bad news in store for Belavia, because the codeshare and interlining cooperation between Turkish Airlines and Belavia must be suspended with immediate effect. As a result, the Belarusian carrier is no longer allowed to use the numerous Turkish flights as a feeder to Istanbul. Changes from Belavia to Turkish Airlines should also be made impossible.

How long the orders of the Turkish government will remain in force is currently not foreseeable. Numerous EU politicians accuse the Lukashenko regime of allowing refugees to be flown in from Belavia in order to "put" them at the EU's external borders. Recently, Turkish Airlines also came under pressure and some politicians even demanded that it - after Belavia - should also receive a flight ban for EU airspace. Among other things, it is accused that the codeshare and interlining cooperation is using Istanbul Airport as a “transfer hub” for refugees to Minsk.

EU flight ban would threaten the very existence of Turkish Airlines

In Turkey, people are apparently aware that Turkish Airlines could get into massive difficulties in the event of an EU flight ban, because the company now makes the lion's share of its revenue with flights between the EU and Turkey (vv) and both point- to-Point as well as a feeder for connections from Istanbul, Ankara and other Turkish airports. A ban would threaten the very existence of Turkish Airlines, because the network would shrink very sharply in one fell swoop and travelers from other continents could also be offered significantly fewer connections.

But not only economic pressure was likely to have been decisive, but also the own population could not take an EU flight ban for Turkish Airlines positively. Many people with Turkish roots or Turkish citizenship live in the EU, but often have relatives in Turkey. Travel and visits would be more complicated if the Turkish connections were to be discontinued, and there is a high probability that prices would also rise, at least in the short term. All of this could lead to considerable resentment in the decisions of the state leadership, which is why it obviously does not want to risk an EU flight ban for Turkish Airlines.