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AIR BOSNA COMPANY MUST DISCONTINUE FLIGHTS FROM ISTANBUL TO TUZLA

SARAJEVO, Aug 14 (Hina) - A Bosnian company "Air Bosna" is going to discontinue flights between Istanbul and Tuzla, owing to suspicion that this line has been established only for the transport of illegal emigrants from Turkey who are trying to reach west Europe via Bosnia-Herzegovina. Air Bosna has decided to stop offering flights for Tuzla (in north-eastern Bosnia), a spokesman for the UN mission in Sarajevo said on Tuesday adding that the number of passengers using this service has already drastically fallen. It is clear that Tuzla is not any kind of tourist destination, spokesman Stefo Lehman said referring to the third largest Bosnian city known for heavy industry, salt works and nearby collieries. During the latest flight, there have been only 39 passengers on board Air Bosna plane flying from Istanbul via Tuzla to Sarajevo, only seven of them have been Turkish nationals. This cut in
SARAJEVO, Aug 14 (Hina) - A Bosnian company "Air Bosna" is going to discontinue flights between Istanbul and Tuzla, owing to suspicion that this line has been established only for the transport of illegal emigrants from Turkey who are trying to reach west Europe via Bosnia-Herzegovina. Air Bosna has decided to stop offering flights for Tuzla (in north- eastern Bosnia), a spokesman for the UN mission in Sarajevo said on Tuesday adding that the number of passengers using this service has already drastically fallen. It is clear that Tuzla is not any kind of tourist destination, spokesman Stefo Lehman said referring to the third largest Bosnian city known for heavy industry, salt works and nearby collieries. During the latest flight, there have been only 39 passengers on board Air Bosna plane flying from Istanbul via Tuzla to Sarajevo, only seven of them have been Turkish nationals. This cut in the number of passengers ensued after the stepped-up control in the airport in this Turkish city. The UN mission in Bosnia has recently accused 'Air Bosna' of transporting illegal migrants as this company applies no criteria when it allows all kinds of passengers to board its planes flying from Istanbul to Bosnia. It lets passengers enter its planes even when it is obvious that they have no business or private reasons for travelling to Bosnia. Most of these passengers are Kurds with Turkish passports, who pass Bosnia and subsequently Croatia in transit while trying to reach West Europe. In recent months Bosnia's customs and police officers intensified the control of passengers coming at the Sarajevo airport from Turkey. After that, 'Air Bosna' decided to stop its planes in Tuzla before they land in the Bosnian capital as Tuzla had no developed system of supervision. Such decision raised doubts among Bosnian customs authorities as well as among UN mission officials about the real reasons behind such a move. For instance, on 5 August, a plane flying from Istanbul to Sarajevo carried 118 passengers. The plane stopped in Tuzla where most of passengers left it. Only 18 passengers proceeded for Sarajevo. The Bosnian Croat-Muslim entity's finance police has recently begun auditing financial statements of 'Air Bosna' and first results of the audit show that there were many irregularities in the financial operations of this company. For instance, the Istanbul-based branch made reimbursement for 70 percent of return tickets sold there in the first five months this year. An interesting thing is that the refunded money for unused tickets from Sarajevo to Istanbul were not taken by passengers whose names were on the tickets but by their relatives or friends on their behalf. There is grounded suspicion that this was a well-organised way for dipping into the company's till, given that the annual financial statements showed that the company had a deficit in its accounts which was evidently caused by unjustified reimbursement. UN representatives and Bosnian authorities are continuing to audit the financial transactions of 'Air Bosna' and take other measures to prevent the inflow of illegal migrants. Bosnia's minister in charge of human rights and refugees, Kresimir Zubak, was quoted by the local press as saying that a visa regime might soon be introduced for citizens of Turkey and Tunisia. A similar practice when stricter visas were introduced for Iranian citizens helped reduce the inflow of illegal migrants from that country. In 2000, even 14,000 persons with Iranian passports poured into Bosnia, while since the introduction of the visa regime, only a few dozen Iranians have so far this year travelled in Bosnia, Zubak said. (hina) ms

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