Türkiye has closed its airspace for flights of Armenia's FlyOne Armenia airline to third countries. Passengers of FlyOne, which operates flights to more than 8 countries of the world, are now deprived of the flights to Chisinau, Moscow, Verona, Parma, Paris, London, Dublin, Lisbon.

It is interesting that soon after, the United Arab Emirates also restricted the flights of the Armenian airline to its territory. Since Dubai's aviation service did not allow the airliner to land at Al-Maktum airport, FlyOne Armenia turned back and made an emergency landing at Iran's Shiraz airport. From there, the plane was forced to return its passengers back to Yerevan.

Faktyoxla Lab. has investigated the reasons why the planes of FlyOne Armenia airline were banned by both Türkiye and the UAE.

First, about the reason for the ban imposed by Türkiye.

The head of FlyOne Armenia Aram Ananyan said there was no ground for this decision of Ankara. According to him, after the ban, the airline's planes are effectively blocked and the company is looking for ways to fulfill its obligations to its customers, hoping that Türkiye will change its decision. Reference

Although Aram Ananyan pretends to be unaware about the causes of the incident, in fact, the Armenian side understands well what caused the suspension of flights. Because the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Türkiye reveals everything, Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu clarified this incident. The head of the Foreign Ministry said that the reason for the closure of the airspace for Armenian aircraft is related to the opening of the "Nemesis" monument erected in Yerevan in late April in "memory" of the terrorists who carried out the massacre of peaceful citizens and diplomatic personnel of Türkiye and Azerbaijan: "This monument they erected to the terrorists who killed our citizens and diplomats, as well as our Azerbaijani brothers in the 20s of the 20th century, praises those terrorists. They (Armenians) say that the mayor's office allowed the monument to be erected, I consider such statements untrue, they do not show goodwill. Due to this incident, we have closed the airspace for Armenian aircraft." reference

Mevlut Çavuşoğlu warned other air carriers of Armenia, who share this kind of thinking, about the possibility of similar harsh restrictions: Quote: "We will let planes into our country if necessary, but as long as Armenia's provocations against Türkiye and Azerbaijan continue, we will not allow the flight of liners and private planes." reference

On April 25, in the center of Yerevan, on Alek Manukyan Street, the ceremonial opening of the Nemesis monument was held, and the ceremony was attended by the leadership of the city municipality, as well as high-ranking officials of the Yerevan government. This confirms the direct state patronage of terrorism as an ideology in Armenia, the protection of terrorists at the official state level, and the perpetuation of their names. Director of the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, academician Ashot Melkonyan, at the opening ceremony, called the Nemesis operation an "honorable" event in the life of the Armenian people and described it as a symbol of dignity. source

As it can be seen, the exclusion of the Armenian airline from international flights is not only related to Nemesis and Türkiye's countermeasures against it, etc.. Here other questions arise. What are these questions?

FlyOne’s cooperation with other airlines and the directions of its flights in the last 2 years gives a number of clues to the questions.

First of all, let's note that Armenia's FlyOne Armenia company was established in 2021 as a subsidiary of Moldova's FlyOne airline. The airline has flights to 14 different destinations from 8 European and Middle Eastern countries, and Turkish airspace is the main area for flights.

In the last year, most of the company's flights were directed to Paris, and in recent months, France sent Armenia not only food and clothes, household items, but also weapons, etc. Because it was acknowledged at the level of President Macron that necessary support will be provided to Armenia. In recent days, Paris has openly declared that it intends to appoint a military attache to its embassy in Yerevan and insists on increasing its military support. The goal of the new military attache is to provide modern French weapons to Armenia. reference

All this indicates France's attempts to arm Armenia. Weapons and other goods can be transported mainly by air.

So, there are such undisclosed reasons behind the closing of the airspace of Türkiye.

Now let's touch on the ban imposed by the United Arab Emirates against the Armenian airline.

It was reported that Dubai's aviation service did not allow the Armenian plane to land at Al Maktoum International Airport, so FlyOne Armenia turned back and made a forced landing at Iran's Shiraz airport. From there, it was forced to return the passengers to Yerevan.

Although the Armenian side claims that the flight documents are in full order and that this step of the Dubai airport management is understandable, some sources associate it with the fact that FlyOne Armenia airline changed the name and flight number of the plane and flew as Mongolian Airways. Armenian sources themselves admit this.

On the other hand, it is no secret that terrorists trained in camps in Lebanon and the Middle East flow to Armenia. The main flight base of FlyOne Armenia company in the Middle East is Dubai. It cannot be ruled out that there is some confidential information in this matter as well.

Another factor is the possibility of illegal transportation and smuggling. There is information at the most reliable levels about Armenia’s illegal transportation to the regions, and even transportation of goods to terrorist points in the Middle East, Russia, etc.

For example, Iran's Mahan Air company has concentrated all its routes on Armenia as the main route in its international flights to the Far and Middle East, Central Asia and Europe. Mahan Air has a trade representative office in Armenia, and this company performs the coordination of flights in different directions. (source)

Flight Travel LLC, which has been operating in Armenia since 2018 as a subsidiary of the private tourism and airline company Mahan Air, provides services in a wide range of spheres (tourism, service, travel, transportation, logistics, etc.).

"Why Armenian airlines, why Flight Travel LLC?" the question arises.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Treasury said in a statement published on January 24, 2019, that armed foreign nationals are being transported to Syria by Mahan Air. With the financial support of Armenian and other groups in the region, Mahan Air plays an active role in transporting various trained personnel, teenagers and minors to the camp, and delivering weapons to the region. In all these processes, Yerevan-based Flight Travel LLC was a partner of Mahan Air. source

In 2022, the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of the Treasury put the Armenian company Flight Travel LLC, the official representative of the airline Mahan Air in Yerevan, on the list of sanctions, finding it guilty of delivering terrorists and weapons to the territory of Syria.

Thus, the above fundamental factors do not exclude the fact that Armenia's FlyOne Armenia airline company is involved in illegal transportation due to its relations with other foreign and domestic air carriers. These and other doubts give very serious grounds for the closure of air spaces of Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates for that company.