Turkey’s Southwind Airlines, which is banned by the EU from flying in the eurozone, has denied accusations of having links with Russia and announced its intention to challenge the ban in European courts. This reported by TASS.

"We are preparing to file a claim with the relevant authorities in Europe in response to those who created this situation for our company and our passengers and right this wrong. Due to the long period of consideration for such claims, we are also making efforts to ensure that the relevant authorities in Turkey lift the ban in advance," the Turkish carrier said in a statement.

"In March, we submitted an application to the Finnish Civil Aviation Authority to launch flights to Helsinki. After that, Finland contacted the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) asking whether our company has any connections with Russia. In a letter, the DGCA said that there are no ties with Russia, that the company's capital is 100% owned by a Turkish citizen, that this person is not a citizen of any country other than Turkey, that all the managers are Turkish and that the company is registered in Turkey.

However, the Finnish authorities ignored this answer and without providing Turkey with any specific information or documents, turned to the EU Aviation Commission <...> and demanded a ban on the use of European airspace based on rumors that our company registered in Turkey has connections with the Russian Federation. The EU civil aviation authority also violated Turkey's sovereign rights with this decision. It made the decision without any evidence, justification or request for protection on an issue that Turkish officials say does not exist," Southwind Airlines said in a statement.