Tension as Syria downs Turkish jet
Turkey’s president warns that “whatever is necessary will be done” after one of the country’s fighter jets is shot down by Syrian government forces.
The F-4 Phantom was hit by anti-aircraft fire while flying over the Mediterranean on Friday. The fate of the two airmen on board remains unknown.
The Syrian military said the jet was flying fast and low just a few hundred yards off the Syrian coast when it was hit, and it fell in Syrian waters seven miles west of the village of Um al-Touyour, north of Latakia.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul said it was routine for jets travelling at high speed to cross borders for a short distance, saying: “When we think of the speed of these jet planes while flying above the sea, crossing over borders for a short distance and then back again is a little bit routine.”
Mr Gul said an investigation into the incident would look at whether the plane was downed in Turkish airspace.
He added: “It is not possible to cover up a thing like this. Whatever is necessary will be done.”
It is not possible to cover up a thing like this. Whatever is necessary will be done. Abdullah Gul
Turkey, as a member of Nato, could potentially invoke Chapter V of the alliance’s treaty, which says that an attack on one state is equivalent to an attack on all signatories.
But Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s initial comments and subsequent statement on the downing of the F-4 were measured in tone. He said Turkish and Syrian forces were working together to search for the two missing crew of the aircraft.
A Turkish government statement on Friday said Ankara would “determinedly take necessary steps” in response, without saying what those actions would be.
Turkish media had reported earlier that Syria had apologised for the incident, but Mr Erdogan made no mention of any apology.
Syria confirmed that it had brought down the aircraft, saying it was because it had entered their airspace. “Our air defences confronted a target that penetrated our air space over our territorial waters pre-afternoon on Friday and shot it down. It turned out to be a Turkish military plane,” a statement released to state media said.
The incident threatens to widen the 16-month conflict in Syria, where a 16-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad appears to be sliding into a sectarian civil war, pitting majority Sunni Muslims against Assad’s minority Alawite sect.
Turkey fears the fighting could unleash a flood of refugees over its own border and ignite regional sectarian conflict.
Ankara, which had become close to Syria before the uprising against Assad, turned against the Syrian leader when he responded violently to pro-democracy protests inspired by popular upheavals elsewhere in the Arab world. Turkey now gives refuge to the rebel Free Syrian Army on its frontier with Syria.
With the second biggest army in NATO, a force hardened by nearly 30 years of fighting Kurdish rebels, Turkey would be a formidable foe for the Syrian army which is already struggling to put down a 16-month-old revolt.