Turkey jet downed in 'international airspace'

24/06/2012| IslamWeb

Turkey has said that Syria shot down its military aircraft in international airspace and declared it would formally consult with NATO allies on a reaction.

Its foreign minister said on Sunday that the plane had been clearly marked as Turkish and said he did not agree with Syria's earlier statement it had not known the plane belonged to Ankara.

Speaking on state-run TRT television, Ahmet Davutoglu said the F4 fighter plane "was hit when it was a distance of 13 miles from the Syrian coast".

The plane entered Syrian airspace on Friday, but quickly left when warned, Davutoglu said.

He said the jet was on a training mission, and "not involved in any operation against Syria". It was testing Turkey's own radar and defense systems, he said.

NATO meeting

Envoys from NATO member states will meet on Tuesday after Turkey requested consultations over the downing of its military jet by Syria, a NATO spokeswoman said.

"Turkey has requested consultations under article 4 of NATO's founding Washington Treaty. Under article 4, any ally can request consultations whenever, in the opinion of any of them, their territorial integrity, political independence or security is threatened," Oana Lungescu said.

"The NAC (North Atlantic Council) will meet on Tuesday at Turkey's request. We expect Turkey to make a presentation on the recent incident."

Earlier on Saturday, Davutoglu had briefed world powers about the downing of its plane even as a joint search for the missing airmen continued.

While Davutoglu statements on Sunday where his first remarks about the incident, a Syrian foreign ministry spokesman had told a Turkish news channel earlier that the shooting was an accident.

Even as UN leader Ban Ki-moon raised his "deep concern" about the impact of the downing, Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi urged both Turkey and Syria to show restraint.

In a telephone conversation with Turkish foreign minister Ahmed Davutoglu, Salehi said he hoped the two sides would "settle the issue peacefully to maintain regional stability," read a statement on the Iranian foreign ministry's website.

Friends to foes

Turkey has had close ties with Syria before the uprising. Ankara has previously floated the possibility of setting up some kind of safe haven or humanitarian corridor inside Syria, which would entail military intervention, but has said it would undertake no such action without UN Security Council approval.

Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught said: "This is a dramatic escalation in tensions between two neighboring countries. Relations have been bad for many months and the worst was when the Syrian army fired on a Turkish refugee camp holding Syrian refugees.

"At that point, Turkey invoked issues of national sovereignty. It was seen as a bit of overreaction then.
"We are in a completely different territory now."

Russia and China, Assad's strongest backers abroad, have fiercely opposed any outside interference in the Syrian crisis, saying UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan is the only way forward.

PHOTO CAPTION

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (R) leaves a meeting focused on Syria with army generals and other officials in Ankara.

Al-Jazeera