Syria said on Friday it shot down a Turkish military plane that entered
Syrian air space, and Turkey vowed to “determinedly take necessary
steps” in response.
It was the most clear and dramatic escalation in tensions between the
two countries, which used to be allies before the Syrian revolt began in
March 2011. Turkey has become one of the strongest critics of the
Syrian regime’s brutal response to the country’s uprising.
Late Friday, Syria’s state-run news agency, SANA, said the military spotted an “unidentified aerial target” that was flying at a low altitude and at a high speed.
“The Syrian anti-air defences counteracted with anti-aircraft artillery, hitting it directly,” SANA
said. “The target turned out to be a Turkish military plane that
entered Syrian airspace and was dealt with according to laws observed in
such cases.”
Turkey issued a statement on Friday night following a two-hour security
meeting led by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying
Syrian forces downed the plane and that the two Turkish pilots remain
missing.
It said Turkey “will determinedly take necessary steps” in response, without saying what those actions would be.
“Following the evaluation of data provided by our related institutions
and the findings of the joint search and rescue efforts with Syria, it
is understood that our plane was downed by Syria,” the statement said,
without providing other details.
Relations between Turkey and Syria were already tense before the downing of the F4 plane on Friday.
Turkey has joined nations such as the U.S. in saying that Syrian
President Bashar Assad should step down because of the regime’s brutal
suppression of the uprising in his country. Turkey also has set up
refugee camps on its border for more than 32,000 Syrians who have fled
the fighting.
Syria and Turkey have expelled each other’s ambassadors and Syria has
accused Turkey of supporting Syrian opposition and even allowing Syrian
rebels to operate out of Turkish soil. Turkey strongly denies the
allegations.
After a cross-border shooting by Syrian forces in April, Turkey said it
would not tolerate any action that it deemed violating its security. The
firing had left two refugees dead at a camp near the town of Kilis just
inside Turkey.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Selcuk Unal earlier on Friday rejected
allegations that Turkey was sending arms and other equipment to Syrian
rebels as baseless. Mr. Unal said Turkey was not sending weapons to any
of its neighbours, including Syria.
Turkey’s military provided no details on the downed plane’s mission on
Friday, but some Turkish TV reports said it was on a reconnaissance
flight.
Syria claimed the jet violated its air space over territorial waters,
penetrating about a kilometre, but that Syrian vessels joined the search
for it, according to Turkey’s NTV television. It said Syria forces realised that it was a Turkish jet after firing at it.
Ilter Turan, a professor of political science at Istanbul’s Bilgi University, told NTV that Syria’s action was clearly “hostile,” even if it violated its air space.
“They could have either sent their planes to confront it or force it to
land, it is a hostile act by any standard,” Mr. Turan said.
Mr. Turan, however, predicted that Syria will try to avoid escalating tensions further.
Mr. Erdogan said the plane went down in the Mediterranean Sea about 13
km away from the Syrian town of Latakia. Four Turkish gunboats and three
helicopters were searching for the pilots and wreckage of the plane.
The Turkish military said the plane disappeared from its radar and that
radio contact was lost at 11.58 a.m. (1.28 p.m. IST) on Friday during a
mission flight.
Some eyewitnesses in Turkey’s seaside area of Hatay province told NTV
television that the plane was flying so low they thought it would “hit
the roofs.” They said the plane then flew toward the sea.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton earlier this month had
warned about a massing of Syrian forces near Aleppo, saying such a
deployment could be a “red line” for Syria’s northern neighbour Turkey
“in terms of their strategic and national interests.”
AP
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