Turkey said Monday it would push NATO to consider Syria’s downing of a Turkish jet as an attack on the whole military alliance.
The announcement came on the eve of a meeting by NATO’s governing body to discuss the incident. Despite deep frustration among many NATO countries over the conflict in Syria, where the opposition says President Bashar Assad’s crackdown on an increasingly armed popular uprising has killed 14,000 people, it’s highly unlikely the military alliance will take armed action against the Arab state.
The unarmed RF-4E reconnaissance jet was shot down a mile (1.6 kilometers) inside international airspace on Friday, and two Turkish pilots are still missing, the Turkish government says.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc also said for the first time that Syrian forces had opened ground fire on a CASA search and rescue plane shortly after the downing, but did not say if that plane was hit.
Arinc said Turkey retained its right to “retaliate” against what he called a “hostile act”.
Sources and more information:
• Turkey invokes NATO pact after Syria downs plane
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.
• Turkey says Syria downed its jet in international airspace
Syria shot down a Turkish fighter jet while it was flying in international airspace some 15 minutes after momentarily straying into Syria’s territory, Turkey’s foreign minister said on Sunday. “According to our conclusions, our plane was shot down in international airspace, 13 nautical miles from Syria,” Ahmet Davutoglu told TRT television.
• Turkey now says plane Syria shot down was in international airspace
• Syria downed Turkish jet in international airspace