Turkey begins flights to Mogadishu
Mogadishu, 06 Mar – (ANA) - The first major commercial airline in more than 20 years has landed at Mogadishu airport in war-torn Somalia.
The maiden flight of Turkish Airlines is the first to the Somali capital from outside East Africa. Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bosdag was on board the flight, which was welcomed by Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
Turkish Airlines intends to operate a twice-weekly passenger service from Istanbul via Sudan's capital, Khartoum. The plane was greeted by a large Somali government delegation, as well as UN officials and ambassadors. The flight follows a visit to Mogadishu last year by the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan - who said he wanted to challenge the idea that the Somali capital was a no-go area.
Somalia has not had a functioning central government for more than two decades and has been riven by factional fighting. (ANA)
FA/ANA/06 March 2012------------