Turkish FM: Our plane was testing our national radar systems
A detailed announcement about Turkey’s reaction has been made on Sunday morning by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who has attended all three high-level security meetings and has been engaged in intense diplomacy since the incident took place.
FM Davutoglu said that the Turkish plane was UNARMED and TESTING national radar systems when it was shut down in int’l airspace. He added “the plane then fell into syrian waters”.
One June 22, a Turkish F-4 Phantom reconnaissance plane which took off from an air base in the eastern province of Malatya, which also hosts the NATO-run missile shield radar, was shot down by Syria’s air defense system near the Syrian city of Latakia, which is close to the Russian naval base at Tartus. The Syrian government said it shot down the plane in Syrian air space in self-defense before realizing that it was a Turkish plane. The aircraft’s two Turkish pilots are still missing.
The Turkish government had not verified a statement from the Syrian Foreign Ministry eaarlier that said Damascus acted in self-defense in shooting down a Turkish warplane on June 22.
An official source was quoted to have said “We have necessary information showing that the Turkish plane was shot at without any warning”.
Ömer Çelik (the deputy chairman in charge of foreign policy for the ruling Justi ce and Development Party) on the other hand said on his Twitter account “We are 100 percent right and the act of Syrian regime is against all dynamics of international law. All data about the incident confirms that.”
24.06.2012
BUSINESS TURKEY TODAY
