ERZURUM
A Syria-bound Armenian plane took off on Monday from Turkey after Turkish authorities concluded searching the cargo of the aircraft for possible military equipment, a local official told reporters.
The Antonov 12 aircraft of the Armenian cargo airline Air Armenia made "a technical landing" in Turkey's eastern province of Erzurum in what the Turkish officials had called "a routine procedure."
Turkish diplomatic sources have said the Armenian aviation authorities had declared that the plane carried humanitarian aid bound for Aleppo, Syria.
Turkish sources have said the Armenian cargo company filed last week on Wednesday a request to use the Turkish airspace, and that Turkey had granted the Armenian plane the permission only on the condition that Turkish authorities searched the cargo.
Sources added that the grounding of the plane was a routine procedure and it complied with the 1944 Chicago Convention on Civil Aviation.
The official said the humanitarian aid was sent by the Armenian government.
