TURKEY: Calm returns to the border between Turkey and Syria as searches continue for pilots missing after Syria downed a Turkish jet it claimed was flying low in its airspace

Record ID: 281120

  • Title: TURKEY: Calm returns to the border between Turkey and Syria as searches continue for pilots missing after Syria downed a Turkish jet it claimed was flying low in its airspace
  • Date: 24th June 2012
  • Summary: PEOPLE QUEUEING AT NEWSPAPER KIOSK (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) ANKARA RESIDENT, VELI ASLAN, SAYING: "This is unfair. It shouldn't have happened. It's a neighbour country. They shouldn't have done it. They have enough trouble already. " PEOPLE BUYING NEWSPAPERS (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) ANKARA RESIDENT, MEHMET ALI DEPAR, SAYING: "This is an unforgivable mistake on behalf of our
  • Embargoed: 9th July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVADHA4TSBN5Z4CKPDNNS31RQW20
  • Story Text: Turkish-Syrian border remained calm on Saturday (June 23) as joint searches got underway for two pilots missing after Syria downed a Turkish jet.
    Tensions heightened between Turkey and Syria after Syria shot down a Turkish warplane over the Mediterranean on Friday (June 22), and Ankara warned it would respond decisively to the incident that threatened to open a new international dimension in the 16-month revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
    Turkish newspapers accused Syrian regime for the incident.
    'Assad is playing with fire' Hurriyet newspapers headline read.
    A statement by the Syrian military said the Turkish plane was flying low, just one kilometre off the Syrian coast, when it was hit by anti-aircraft fire. The plane fell in Syrian waters 10-kms (seven miles) west of the village of Um al-Touyour.
    Some residents in Ankara felt Syria's move was unjust.
    "This is unfair. It shouldn't have happened. It's a neighbour country. They shouldn't have done it. They have enough trouble already," said Veli Aslan.
    Others said Turkey should retaliate.
    "This is an unforgivable mistake on behalf of our country. I know Turkish Prime Minister will give the necessary answer. I think we should retaliate by the exact same way," said Mehmet Ali Depar.
    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.
    But Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's initial comments and subsequent statement on the downing of the F-4 jet were measured in tone. He said Turkish and Syrian forces were working together to search for the two missing crew of the aircraft.
    Turkish media had reported earlier that Syria had apologised for the incident, but Erdogan made no mention of any apology.
    Violence raged unabated inside Syria, which appears to be sliding into a sectarian-tinged civil war pitting majority Sunni Muslims against Assad's minority Alawite sect. Turkey fears the fighting if unchecked could unleash a flood of refugees over its own border and ignite regional sectarian conflict.
    Ankara, which had drawn 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.
    Erdogan, whose enmity with Assad has assumed a strongly personal nature, gave no hint what action he might contemplate.
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