| New York Times | - |
ANKARA, Turkey - Turkish fighter jets shot down a Syrian
warplane on Sunday after it violated Turkish airspace, Turkey's prime
minister said, part of the longstanding hostilities between the two
nations over the conflict in Syria. “If you violate my ...
Turkey Downs Warplane From Syria After Warning
ANKARA,
Turkey — Turkish fighter jets shot down a Syrian warplane on Sunday
after it violated Turkish airspace, Turkey’s prime minister said, part
of the longstanding hostilities between the two nations over the
conflict in Syria.
“If
you violate my airspace, our slap will be a hard one,” Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a televised campaign speech in
northwestern Turkey. Mr. Erdogan praised the Turkish military for its
response, as did President Abdullah Gul, according to a report by NTV, a
private television channel.
Two
Syrian warplanes entered the airspace over southern Turkey on Sunday,
but one turned back to Syria after the pilots were warned against
entering by the Turkish Air Force, a statement posted on the military’s
website said. When the other Syrian plane did not comply, it was shot
down by a Turkish F-16 fighter jet, the statement said.
The
flight of the two Syrian MIG-23 jets heading north from Syria was
monitored for 80 nautical miles, and the pilots were warned four times
before reaching 10 nautical miles of Turkish airspace, the statement
said.
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One
of the planes continued to fly for one-and-a-half kilometers into
Turkish airspace before “one of our F-16 planes on patrol fired a
missile to the Syrian plane in line with the rules of engagement,” the
Turkish military said.
Turkish
television stations showed still aerial images of the Syrian plane
after it was shot over the border town of Yayladagi in Hatay Province,
just before it crashed near the Kasab crossing in Latakia Province,
Syria, which rebels and fighters from Syria’s Al Qaeda affiliate have
seized.
Syria’s
Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning Turkey’s actions. “The
Turkish government should end its aggression,” it said, adding that
Turkey’s leaders “should not drag the Turkish Army into an adventure.”
The
Syrian state news agency, Sana, said in a statement on its Facebook
page that Turkey targeted the plane in Syrian airspace while it was
pursing “terrorist gangs,” the Syrian government’s term for the rebels
and the jihadists who fight alongside them.
The
pilot ejected before the plane crashed, the Syrian military said,
according to reports by The Associated Press and Reuters. Some news
reports said that the pilot said he was shot down while still inside
Syrian airspace.
Heavy
fighting between rebel groups and the Syrian armed forces has paralyzed
Turkey’s southern border with Syria often since the start of the
conflict in 2011. The conflict has taken a more complicated turn as
radical Islamist groups have gained power among the rebels and often
engaged in battles against them.
Turkey
cut ties with Syria in 2011 and since then it has officially been
providing support to an umbrella group for the Syrian political
opposition, which also had a military wing active along Turkey’s
southern border. The rebels have clearly benefited from some level of
Turkish logistical and military support, although the Turkish government
has denied arming the fighters.
Turkey
was lobbying for an international military response against the forces
of President Bashar al-Assad even before the use of chemical weapons by
the Syrian government.
Turkey
refrained from taking unilateral military action against Syrian forces
even after Syria shot down one of Turkey’s military planes that was on a
patrol along the border in June 2012.
That
episode led the Turkish Parliament to revise the military’s rules of
engagement, and last September Turkey shot down a Syrian military
helicopter after officials said it had violated Turkish airspace.
In
Syria on Sunday, a cousin of Mr. Assad was killed in the fighting near
Syria’s northern border, according to activists and state television.
The
president’s cousin, Hilal al-Assad, was a leader of the National
Defense Force, a militia that fights alongside the Syrian Army.
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