Turkey has banned Russian forces from using its airspace to reach Syria in a bid to increase pressure on Vladimir Putin as Ankara seeks to revive peace talks with Ukraine.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Russian military planes would no longer be able to transit through his country on the way to Syria, where Moscow has played a key role in maintaining the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
“We have closed our airspace to Russian military flights and even civilian flights carrying military personnel to Syria,” he told reporters during a visit to Uruguay, according to state television TRT.
Analysts say the move will further complicate Russia’s logistics in Syria after Turkey restricted the passage of foreign warships from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean shortly after the start of the war in Ukraine.
Charles Lister, director of the Syria program at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, said on Twitter that Moscow’s only “viable air supply route” would now be via Iran and Iraq.
Turkey will remain open to trade flights to and from Russia, refusing to follow the EU in closing its airspace to Russian flights because of the country’s importance to its economy.
Cavusoglu said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had informed Putin of the decision and that the two leaders continued dialogue.
Ankara has revoked permission to use its airspace by the Russian military in Syria since Russia’s renewed offensive in Ukraine began, three people familiar with the matter said. But the decision to close completely and make it public with the move marks a significant escalation.
Aaron Stein, director of the Middle East program at the Philadelphia-based Institute for Foreign Policy Studies, said the United States and other nations wanted Turkey to use its leverage over Moscow in Syria and increase pressure on Putin.
“It took some time for Ankara to join, but after almost two months, Ankara took another step to put pressure on Moscow in Syria because of Ukraine,” he said.
Turkey is striving for a delicate balance after Putin’s invasion created the biggest war on European soil in 80 years. Most European countries closed their airspace to Russian flights soon after the start of the war, but Ankara tried to mediate instead.
Turkey is also supplying armed drones to the Ukrainian armed forces, although it opposes signing Western sanctions.
Ankara’s decision to put pressure on Russia in Syria, where Turkey controls several territories and has a large military presence, underscores the difficult relationship between Erdogan and Putin.
The two leaders have built a close personal relationship in recent years, but have also repeatedly been on opposite sides of the battlefields in Syria, Libya and the disputed Caucasus region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Ankara has tried to facilitate peace talks between Ukraine and Russia. Negotiators held two summits in Turkey in March and April, but evidence of atrocities against Ukrainian civilians by Russian troops undermined efforts.
Speaking Friday, Erdogan said his staff is seeking to arrange phone calls in a bid to resume discussions.
Omer-based foreign and security analyst Omer Yozkizilchik said Russia’s pressure on Syria was an attempt to force Russia “to be more serious in the talks”.
He said: “If you want Russia to make a deal and reach an agreement, you have to be strong in the field and you have to use solid force. Turkey has been doing this for the last few years and is still doing it. “
Ozkiziljik said Ankara, which launched a new offensive against Kurdish extremists in northern Iraq this week, could seek to use its leverage on Russia to get the green light for a similar operation in northern Syria.
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