Armenia has agreed to Turkey's demand to search an Armenian aircraft carrying humanitarian aid to Aleppo as there was nothing dangerous on the plane.
"We agreed to the precondition as we were sure that there was nothing dangerous or suspicious on board the plane," Director of Air Armenia Company Arsen Avetisyan told A1+.
The 14-ton humanitarian aid is sent to the war-torn Syria by "Help Your Brother" Initiative.
Vahan Hovhannisyan, a senior representative of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun and member of the initiative, says Turkish law enforcement agencies are thoroughly searching the foodstuff.
"There are glass bottles in boxes wrapped up in papers, which has aroused serious interest in the Turkish side. Presently, they are photographing the newspapers. I suggest that they take the papers with them to study later," he said.
Arsen Avetisyan regularly contacts the staff members to get news on the situation. "They are well treated. They have even been offered something to eat," he said.
If the search takes several more hours, the staff will spend the night in Erzurum and head to Aleppo in the morning.
As A1+ reported earlier, Armenian aircraft carrying humanitarian assistance to Syria made a scheduled landing in Erzurum, in eastern Turkey, earlier on Monday. It came after Turkey demanded that the company's planes flying through Turkish airspace to undergo routine checks in Erzurum. The plane will be permitted to depart as soon as the checks are completed.
Later we were informed Turkey had eventually given the all clear for the Armenian plane to continue its journey to Aleppo. At 6:30, the plane headed for Syria.
