Tour operators to resume sending tourists to Turkey on July 23

Russian tourist operators will start sending tourists to Turkey on June 23, Maya Lomidze, the executive director of the Russian Association of Tour Operators, told TASS. "Biblio Globus is opening its flight program as of July 23. So, the first tourists will fly as of that moment," she added. She did not clarify when other tourism operators were going to resume flights to Turkey. The Rossiya air carrier will deliver Biblio Globus clients to Turkey, the firm’s founder, Alexander Tugolukov, said. The Federal Air Transport Agency said earlier that Russia was resuming flights to Turkey as of July 22. Russia is lifting all restrictions on regular flights to Turkey as of July 22, the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) said in a telegram sent to air companies and tourism operators. "Attention! The heads of air companies and airports. In view of the fact that the Turkish side has provided guarantees of increasing air safety measures, Russia is lifting all the previous restrictions imposed on regular flights (to Turkey) as of 00:00 22.07.2016," the document, which TASS has at its disposal, said. It is true both of Russians leaving for Turkey from the territory of Russia and transit passengers who head for third countries via Turkish airports. The telegram said that only regular rather than charter flights had been resumed. On July 16, Rosaviatsiya banned Russian and Turkish air companies to send Russian nationals to Turkey. A Russian Transport Ministry source told TASS that the air flights had been suspended until the political situation become clear following instructions by Russian President Vladimir Putin. A group of insurgents took an abortive coup attempt in Turkey late on July 16. The main confrontation took place in Ankara and Istanbul. The country’s leaders announced later that the coup attempt had been thwarted. According to the latest reports, 246 people, the putsch members excluded, died and 2,185 were injured. On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a state of emergency in Turkey for three months.