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Turkey: No Intention of war with Syria over Downed Jet |
26 June 2012Turkey said on Monday it had no intention of going to war with anyone after one of its jets was shot down by Syria last week and said it would only act in accordance with international law, Today's Zaman reported.
"Whatever is needed to be done will definitely be done within the framework of international law. We have no intention of going to war with anyone. We have no such intent," Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç told a news conference Turkey after a seven-hour cabinet meeting on the incident.
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.
Arınç, however, also underlined that Turkey will protect itself within international law and that Syria's downing of jet will not go unpunished.
Arınç said Turkey won't hesitate to take necessary steps within legitimate boundaries of international law, adding that Syria targeted "our solo-flying, unarmed plane with cold blood. International law stands by Turkey in the face of this hostile action."
Arınç said Syrian air "elements" had violated Turkish air space five times "recently" but that the incidents had been settled peacefully.
He also underlined that seeking a parliamentary motion for cross-border military operation is not currently on government's agenda and that there is no need for that. "We can appeal to Parliament if needed," he stressed.
"It should be known that within legality we will of course use all rights granted under international law until the end," Arınç said. "This also includes self-defense. This also includes retaliation many-fold. This includes all sanctions that can be applied to the aggressor state under international law. Turkey will not leave anything out on this issue. The public should be assured," he added.
Arınç strongly denied Syrian claims that the downed plane was shot by anti-aircraft fire while flying low inside Syrian airspace. The Syrian government said on Monday said the plane was hit by a short-range anti-aircraft gun to prove that the plane was inside Syrian territory.
Arınç, however, said Turkey believed the plane was hit with a laser-guided or heat-guided missile - capable of hitting the plane in international airspace.
The deputy premier admitted the jet mistakenly strayed into Syrian airspace when it was flying at an altitude of 200 feet and at a speed of 300 knots, but said it left the Syrian airspace after warnings from Turkish radar operators and that it received no warning from Syrian forces during its five-minute flight inside Syrian territory.
"It was hit while flying 13 miles away (from the Syrian coast) at an altitude of 7,400 feet," Arınç said. "It leaned on its left side and fell steeply for four miles toward the east."
Arınç said the plane crashed into Syrian waters and its wreckage is believed to be below 1,000 meters (3,280 feet).
Arınç also said Syria was misleading the world when it says its forces could not recognize the plane until after it was downed.
He said the plane's electronic signals, which indicate if an aircraft is friend or foe, were activated during the entire flight and that Turkey even intercepted radio conversations in which Syrian forces referred to the plane. Arınç did not elaborate, but Turkish media, citing intelligence sources, said on Monday that Syrian forces referred to the plane using the Turkish word for "neighbor" - "komşu" -in an intercepted radio conversation.
Arınç reiterated Turkey's insistence that the plane was not spying on Syria but just testing Turkey's radar capabilities.
"There is no doubt that Syrians deliberately targeted our plane in international airspace," Arınç said. "It was an extremely hostile action."
Syria's Jet Downing an Attack on Whole NATO
Arınç also claimed that Turkey would push NATO to consider Syria's downing of the 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.
Turkey will push NATO to consider the armed attack under Article 5 in a key alliance treaty, Arınç said. Article 5 states that an attack against one NATO member shall be considered an attack against all members.
The North Atlantic Council - which includes ambassadors of the 28 NATO countries - works by consensus and all members must approve any action. The meeting Tuesday comes after Turkey requested it under Article 4 of the treaty, which allows a NATO ally to request such a consultation if it feels its territorial integrity or security has been threatened.
Asked if Turkey will insist on the activation of Article 5 of NATO, Arınç said, "No doubt, Turkey has made necessary applications regarding Article 4 and Article 5."
Arınç later edited his earlier remarks, saying that Turkey only invoked Article 4, not Article 5.
The prospect of Western military intervention in Syria remains remote, despite all the tough talk.
Such action is unlikely to get the support of either the UN Security Council or the Arab League, and outside intervention without the blessing of both of those bodies is all but unthinkable. And there is little appetite among the NATO countries - of which the US is the largest - for another war in the Middle East.
Second Plane Hit by Syria
Arınç also claimed that Syrian forces had fired towards a Turkish military transport plane involved in a search for the jet shot down by Syria earlier, but the second aircraft was not brought down.
The disclosure of the second incident came on the eve of a NATO crisis meeting that Turkey summoned to address the shooting down of its F-4 jet, which Ankara has described as an unprovoked attack in international airspace.
Arınç said that shortly after the F-4 was shot down, four helicopters and two ships were dispatched on an initial search operation, followed by a military turboprop transport aircraft.
"Our plane, which had gone to rescue (the pilots), was fired upon. This situation was brought to an end following a warning from our foreign ministry. But yes, there was a short period of harassing fire," said Arınç.
A foreign ministry official later said the plane returned to Turkish airspace immediately after being fired on and the search and rescue operation resumed following communications "through military and diplomatic channels". He said there were no injuries to anyone aboard the transport aircraft. |
26 June 2012
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