[guide.chat] turkey invokes
- From: vanessa <qwerty1234567a@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "GUIDE CHAT" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2012 09:05:09 +0100
Turkey invokes NATO pact after Syria downs plane
Liz Sly
June 25, 2012
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Syrian, Turkish tensions rise
Tensions between Syria and Turkey escalates after Syria shot down a Turkish jet
over what Anakara says were international waters.
BEIRUT: Turkey has called a meeting of NATO member states after one of its
warplanes was shot down by Syria, in what it claims was international airspace.
Under article 4 of NATO's charter, member countries can request consultation
when they feel their security is threatened. NATO will meet tomorrow to discuss
its response to the shooting.
Syria says the jet was in Syrian airspace when it was hit, but the Turkish
Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, claims it was in international airspace when
it was attacked on Friday.
Weighing its response ... Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, right,
leaves a meeting focused on Syria with army generals after claiming the Turkish
jet shot down by Syria was done so in international airspace.
He dismissed an earlier statement by Syria that it had not known the plane was
Turkish, saying it was clearly marked.
Turkey has filed an official protest to Syria and has been weighing its
response to the shooting, which has sent tensions soaring between two
neighbours already at odds over the uprising against President Bashar
al-Assad's rule.
Turkey has said its response will be strong, decisive and legitimate once it
has gathered information about the downing of the jet.
Two pilots remain missing, with the Turkish and Syrian navies launching a
massive joint rescue operation in the eastern Mediterranean. The wreckage of
the plane was found in Syrian waters, Turkish media reported yesterday.
Mr Davutoglu said the plane was in international airspace when it was fired at,
though it had entered Syrian airspace several minutes earlier.
The plane was struck about 21 kilometres off the Syrian coast and crashed into
the sea about 13 kilometres offshore, Mr Davutoglu said on state television
from Ankara.
The jet was unarmed and conducting a test and training flight related to the
country's radar system and was not on any mission related to Syria, Mr
Davutoglu said.
There has been a notable lack of bellicose rhetoric emanating from Ankara and
Damascus, underscoring the explosive potential of the incident.
The Turkish President, Abdullah Gul, conceded that the F-4 Phantom, downed
apparently by a surface-to-air missile, may have wandered into Syrian airspace,
but he said any such action was not ''ill-intentioned'' and was not unusual.
Mr Gul warned that Turkey was not prepared to let the shooting pass without
response. ''Whatever is necessary will be done,'' the President said.
The shooting presented Turkey with a dilemma at a time when an effort to aid
the rebel Free Syrian Army is gearing up along its border with Syria, in
collaboration with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the US. A conflict with Syria now
could rapidly spiral into a regional war. Yet few in the international
community have expressed any appetite for military intervention.
Several Turkish government officials urged restraint. ''We must remain calm and
collected,'' the Deputy Prime Minister, Bulent Arinc, said. ''We must not give
premium to any provocative speeches and acts.''
Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 102 people were killed
in violence across the country on Saturday.
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