TURKEY: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to meet opposition party leaders and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will brief world powers on the downing of a Turkish jet by Syria

Record ID: 280944

  • Title: TURKEY: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to meet opposition party leaders and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will brief world powers on the downing of a Turkish jet by Syria
  • Date: 25th June 2012
  • Summary: HEADLINE OF MILLI GAZETE NEWSPAPER READING IN TURKISH: 'Next step will be a disaster'
  • Embargoed: 10th July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAANQZTQIKZAX1UE08EZXL4TYU0
  • Story Text: Turkey has declared it will respond decisively following Syria's downing of a Turkish jet two days ago, as search and rescue operations continued for two missing pilots and plane wreckage on Sunday (June 24).
    Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu is expected to make a statement later on Sunday, while the Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to meet leaders of opposition parties to discuss the latest developments.
    Davutoglu phoned world powers on Saturday (June 23) to brief them about the downing of one of Ankara's planes by Syria as a joint search for the airmen, who were shot down over the Mediterranean, tried to locate them.
    Signals from both Turkey and Syria suggested neither wanted a military confrontation over Friday's (June 22) incident as the search focused its efforts near a Turkish province that hosts thousands of rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
    However some residents in Istanbul were wary of the developments and said great caution should be taken in dealing with this incident.
    "Of course I expect Turkey to retaliate, but we had a similar experience during the Mavi Marmara incident. 10 Turkish citizens died. The Turkish public expected a harsh response for that incident but nothing happened, and the incident was resolved through international community. I think that will be the case here, as well," said Sinan Halac.
    "A Turkish warplane was shot down but Turkey shouldn't respond with rage, because a military intervention in Syria would be a big challenge on its own," said Ender Dindar.
    Given the hostility between the two former allies over Assad's 16-month-old crackdown on his opponents, the joint operation was likely to sit uneasily with both countries.
    Iraq, which borders both, said the incident marked a serious escalation of the Syrian conflict, demonstrating its potential to affect other countries in the region.
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