Turkish Airlines suspends service to Kazakhstan through Sunday

ISTANBUL

Turkish Airlines has suspended all passenger service between Turkiye and Kazakhstan through Sunday, the flag carrier has announced.

The decision was made in light of protests that have rocked the country, the airline said on Thursday.

Protests that began in western Kazakhstan on Jan. 2 over an increase in prices for liquified petroleum gas, or LPG, later spread to other areas of the Central Asian nation, and have since gone nationwide.

In response, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev declared a state of emergency in the commercial capital Almaty and the oil-rich Mangystau region.

Tokayev also approved the resignation of the government and requested support from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Eurasian alliance of former Soviet states.

*Writing by Merve Berker in Ankara