Kazakh flagship carrier Air Astana said on Thursday it had suspended flights to Turkey after a Turkish court ordered the impounding of all arriving Kazakh planes to secure repayment of a Kazakh government debt.

The Turkish court on Wednesday ordered the arrest of "all Kazakh planes arriving at Turkey airports or making transit landings there in a bid to cover the debt of some USD$8 million incurred by Kazakhstan's National Bank to Turkish citizen Turgut Tirali," Air Astana said in a statement.

Kazakhstan's central bank declined to comment.

Air Astana, 51 percent owned by the Kazakh government and 49 percent by Britain's BAE Systems, operates the Almaty-Istanbul flight jointly with Turkish Airlines.

Air Astana said it had suspended Thursday's flight, originally scheduled for 0825 local time (0225 GMT), "until further notice later on".

"We now hope for a display of goodwill in a bid to avoid an international scandal," said Air Astana spokesman Azat Bekturov. "We ourselves are very puzzled."