Comment by the Information and Press Department on Turkey’s violation of the Treaty on Open Skies

From February 1 to 5, Russia’s An-30B aircraft planned to perform a surveillance flight over the territory of the Turkish Republic under the Treaty on Open Skies.

Turkey agreed to accept a Russian observation mission within the said timeframe. However, after the mission arrived at the point of entry to the Turkish territory, Turkey rejected the Russian surveillance plan, which included, among other things, a flight over stretches of territory adjoining the Syrian border.

The Turkish official sources had published no bans or restrictions on the use of the Turkish airspace.

We note that this unprecedented step by Turkey is at odds with one of the main aims of the Treaty, which is to promote openness and transparency via confidence-building measures, the importance of which, incidentally, is something that NATO is so fond of talking about. Apart from that, the Turkish side has violated the main principle of the said multilateral document – surveillance of any point on the territory of a State Party.

We are certain that Ankara had no right to refuse us to carry out a surveillance mission over its territory and that this refusal is a sign of its desire to conceal certain activities that obviously take place in areas that the Russian aircraft was supposed to overfly.

Moreover, the Turkish airspace was closed at the request of Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and this implies that this step has political underpinnings.

Starting from 2013, Turkey has repeatedly declared its southern areas with Patriot ADMS positions and NATO air bases off-limits to Russian surveillance aircraft.  Thus, a precedent is being created as a result of Turkey’s systematic violations of the Treaty on Open Skies and its unconstructive actions, where an observer country is denied an opportunity to monitor military activities pursued by one of the States Parties.

Certain NATO colleagues are not averse to accusing Russia of a “selective implementation” of the Treaty. It will be recalled in this connection that during a dramatic stage of the conflict in southeastern Ukraine in 2014 the Russian Federation without hindrance allowed groups on board States Parties’ surveillance aircraft to make sure that there was no “excessive concentration of Russian armed forces and military equipment” in its areas bordering on Ukraine (contrary to the strident NATO propaganda to that effect).

Russia intends to respond to Turkey’s violation of the Treaty on Open Skies. We hope for a relevant reaction from other States Parties.

February 4, 2016