Turkish Airlines will no longer accept Syrian, Iraqi nationals on Minsk route

His statement comes after claims that Turkish Airlines was flying migrants to Belarus amid a migrant crisis there.

Denying the claims as “baseless,” the airline said Turkish Airlines flights to Belarus are in no way aiding in illegal immigration traffic.

Turkey rejected efforts to “portray it as part of the problem” in the migrant crisis along the Poland-Belarus border, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

Turkey, host to some 4 million mainly Syrian migrants, has been accused of contributing to the migrant flow toward Belarus’ borders. The European Union has accused Minsk of encouraging the migrants to come to its territory then pushing them to cross to Poland and other neighboring countries.

“We reject efforts to portray Turkey, which is not a party to this issue, as part of the problem,” the ministry said in a statement and added Ankara viewed the targeting of its national flag-carrier Turkish Airlines over the matter as “intentional.”

The crisis at the eastern frontiers of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia is fueling calls for the EU to finance the construction of something it never wanted to build: fences and walls at the border.

About 8,000 migrants have entered from Belarus this year, and border guards have prevented about 28,000 attempted crossings, according to European Commission figures.

Photo: Jakub Kumoch (NordenBladet)
Source: Daily Sabah