TURKEY: Turkey forces a Syrian plane to land in Ankara saying it has the right to investigate planes suspected of carrying military materials

Record ID: 276447

  • Title: TURKEY: Turkey forces a Syrian plane to land in Ankara saying it has the right to investigate planes suspected of carrying military materials
  • Date: 11th October 2012
  • Summary: ANKARA, TURKEY (OCTOBER 10, 2012) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SCENES) PLANE ON TARMAC CONTROL TOWER PERSON GETTING OFF PLANE MILITARY VEHICLE ON TARMAC PERSON DISEMBARKING FROM PLANE
  • Embargoed: 26th October 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAC47NAHK24K1TRAPKCIQL94VEI
  • Story Text: Turkey scrambled fighters to force a Syrian passenger plane to land on Wednesday (October 10), suspecting it of carrying military equipment from Moscow, while Turkey's military chief warned of a more forceful response if shelling continued to spill over the border.
    Military jets escorted the Damascus-bound Airbus A-320, carrying around 30 passengers, into the airport in Ankara hours after Turkey's chief of staff said his troops would respond with greater force if bombardments from Syria kept hitting Turkish territory, Turkish state-run television said.
    Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Ankara is "determined to control weapons transfers" into Syria.
    Davutoglu said Turkey was within its rights to investigate planes suspected to be carrying military materials and that the plane would be allowed to continue if it was found to be clean. He declined to comment on what the banned materials might be.
    He said Turkey would continue to investigate Syrian civilian aircraft using its airspace.
    He also said Syrian airspace was no longer safe and that Turkish passenger planes should not fly there. A Reuters witness at the border saw at least one passenger plane turn around as it approached Syria and head back into Turkey on Wednesday.
    More than 18 months into the battle for Syria, an estimated 30,000 people are dead and the country is disintegrating.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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