Turkey blames Syria for jet attack

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Turkey accused Syria on Sunday of shooting down a military plane in international airspace without warning and called a NATO meeting to discuss a response to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.



He told state broadcaster TRT the plane had been clearly marked as Turkish and dismissed Syria's assertion it had not identified the aircraft before opening fire.

Davutoglu said he also planned to set out Turkey's case before the United Nations Security Council where Western powers are seeking, in the face of Russian and Chinese opposition, to push through a motion that could allow stronger measures against Assad. Moscow fears this could lead to military action that could undermine its interests in Syria.


Davutoglu said the jet was unarmed and had been on a solo mission to test domestic radar systems, but acknowledged it had briefly crossed Syrian airspace 15 minutes before it was attacked. There was no "secret" element to its mission.




The foreign ministry said Turkey knew the coordinates of the wreckage, 1,300 metres underwater, but had not found it yet.


Turkey shelters the rebel Free Syria Army (FSA) and hosts 32,000 Syrian refugees on its southeastern border with Syria, some 50 km from where the Turkish aircraft was shot down. But it denies providing arms for the insurgents.

Syria's state news agency SANA said Syrian border forces had confronted "terrorists" who had crossed the Turkish frontier into the coastal province of Latakia and killed several of them on Sunday.

Syria and Turkey share a border 600 km long.

As if to underline its potential military reach, Turkey's military announced on Sunday it had carried out air strikes against nine Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq on June 22-24. Turkey has carried out frequent air strikes against Kurdish fighters seeking more autonomy in southeast Turkey and has even sent ground forces across the border to attack bases.








A ship carrying Russian helicopters to Syria, which turned back after its insurance was cut, was expected to sail back to Syria accompanied by at least one other vessel, Interfax news agency said, citing a military source.


"The subject of Syria was already on the agenda for Monday's meeting, so they'll have a chance to talk about this before the NATO meeting on Tuesday," a Spanish government source said.

In a telephone conversation with Davutoglu, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, whose government is a firm backer of Assad, said he hoped both sides would "settle the issue peacefully to maintain regional stability".


It remains unclear exactly what the Turkish jet had been doing - a reconnaissance mission to support Syrian rebels or to test Syria's air defences are among the theories. Syrian anti-aircraft gunners may also have been jumpy after a defecting Syrian pilot flew his fighter to Jordan the previous day.






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