Gosses: We Want Onur Air To Hold Its Flights In Safety

HAKKARI (AA) - Dutch Ambassador in Ankara Sjoerd Gosses said, ''we want flights of Onur Airlines be safe.''
     Gosses arrived in southeastern city of Hakkari on Tuesday to see how the works on mine sweeping in the region were going on.
     Replying questions of reporters on Netherlands' decision to close its air space to flights of Turkish Onur Airlines, Gosses said: ''Onur Air paid no much attention to security and safety matters in its fights during the last two years. The company had been warned several times but it did not take those warnings into consideration.''
     ''Passengers' safety is one of the most important matters of aviation. Civil aviation authorities in the Netherlands and all European countries attach great importance to safety in air transportation,'' he added.
     ''We examined and found out that safety on Onur Air flights were not at the required level. Last week, upon an incident which was about to end with an accident, we have decided to suspend flights of Onur Air to the Netherlands for a while,'' he noted.
     Gosses said, ''if the company put in place the necessary safety standards within a month, we will revise our decision. We want Onur Air to hold its flights safely.''
     Gosses added, ''The safety of Onur Air flights are actually debated in many European European countries. Any accident of this company will negatively affect Turkish tourism .''
     Last week, Dutch Transportation Ministry announced that it suspended Onur Air's flights for one month due to technical shortcomings. Later, Germany, France and Switzerland followed suit.
     Upon initiatives of Turkey, Dutch and Turkish civil aviation authorities held a meeting which lasted nearly 12 hours yesterday (on Monday). However they did not reach a compromise. Talks will continue on May 18th in Istanbul.
     (GC-ULG)
2005-05-17