TURKEY BANS MACEDONIAN NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM FROM FLYING TO ARMENIA

YEREVAN, June 3. /ARKA/. On Thursday evening, the Turkish authorities
prohibited an airplane carrying the Macedonian national football team
from flying to Armenia over Turkey. The team was going to Yerevan
to take part in a match of the 2006 World Championship scheduled for
Saturday. RIA Novostry reports that the plane, which was in Turkey’s
airspace a few dozen kilometers from Armenia’s border about half an
hour, had to fly back to Skopje. The Macedonia newspaper Utrenski
Vesnik reported that Ankara accounted for the incident by the fact
that the crew had no necessary documents for flying over Turkey.
Other Macedonian mass media suppose that the reason is the tension
between Armenia and Turkey. The Macedonian football association is
currently seeking an opportunity for transporting its national team
to Armenia in another way. P.T. -0–