Baku welcomes Ankara's decision to cancel Van-Yervan flights

Turkey's decision to cancel new flights between Turkey's province of Van and Armenia's capital city of Yerevan, which were expected to start on April 3, is being greeted with enthusiasm by Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Elman Abdullayev has said that Ankara's decision to cancel the flights, which were to be operated by BoraJet, to its long-estranged neighbor, Armenia, is of great importance for Azerbaijan. "There were some groups in Azerbaijan that took opposition to the flights in question. They would have been operated by a private company, but due to political and economic conditions they won't take off," Abdullayev was quoted as saying on Wednesday. The flights between Armenia and Turkey would not have been the first between the two countries. Armenia's national carrier, Armavia, operated flights between Armenia and Turkey before it filed for bankruptcy last month. Van-Yerevan flights were scheduled to run twice-weekly and would have connected Armenians to what they call their "historical homeland." The flights were encouraged by Turkey's reconciliation moves with Armenia and were meant to boost bilateral tourism and trade. Commenting on Turkey's outstanding support for Azerbaijan in the region Abdullayev said: "Armenia is an aggressive country and occupied Azerbaijan's territories. In this case the role of Azerbaijan's strategic ally, Turkey, is very important, as Ankara's pressure on Yerevan is necessary," he said. "We have always felt Turkey's support and for that we are thankful to Ankara." Azerbaijan and Armenia have had no diplomatic ties since the early 1990s when Armenia together with Russian forces occupied Azerbaijani territories including mainly Armenian populated Nagorno-Karabakh and seven Azerbaijani populated adjacent territories. To support its ally, Azerbaijan, Turkey closed its land border with Armenia. Currently, together with Azerbaijan, Turkey has attempted to economically isolate Armenia by omitting Yerevan from regional economic projects, considering it the only way to peacefully settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which has been deadlocked for more than two decades. Turkish authorities also reportedly confirmed the flights had been canceled, but did not provide any further details. One BoraJet official twice denied that the Van-Yerevan flights had ever been planned, even though the route was still available as a booking option on the firm's website on Monday, according to Reuters.