Syrian downing of Turkish plane: a hostile act? (+video)

Syria brought down a Turkish plane with two pilots aboard. Questions remain about the incident and the Turkish response. Leaders say, "Turkey cannot endure it in silence."

By Suzan Fraser,?Associated Press / June 23, 2012

In this file photo, a Turkish pilot salutes before take-off at an air base in Konya, Turkey. Turkish President Abdullah Gul said, his country would take "necessary" action against Syria for the downing of a Turkish military jet, but suggested that the aircraft may have unintentionally violated the Syrian airspace.

AP Photo/File

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Syria said Saturday that it shot down a Turkish military jet because the aircraft had violated its airspace, but Turkey threatened retaliatory action as it searched for its two missing pilots.

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Both sides signaled they do not want to escalate an incident that has the potential to explode into a regional conflict, but the downing of the Turkish reconnaissance plane on Friday was a dramatic sign that the violence gripping Syria increasingly is spreading outside its borders.

Tensions already were high between Syria and NATO-member Turkey. The neighbors used to be allies before the Syrian revolt began in March 2011, but Turkey has become one of the strongest critics of the Syrian regime's brutal response to the country's uprising and is playing host to civilian and military Syrian opposition groups.

Germany and Iraq urged Turkey and Syria to remain calm and not let the unrest in Syria become a wider conflict in the area.

In a telephone interview with Turkish TV news channel A Haber on Saturday, Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi said the downing of Turkey's F-4 plane was an "accident, not an attack."

"An unidentified object entered our air space and unfortunately as a result it was brought down. It was understood only later that it was a Turkish plane," A Haber quoted Makdissi as saying in a translation of the interview. "There was no hostile act against Turkey whatsoever. It was just an act of defense for our sovereignty."

The plane went down in the Mediterranean Sea near Syria, and its two Turkish pilots remain missing.

"What is important now is that Turkey and Syria are working together to find the pilots," Makdissi said.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul and other officials said Saturday that their government is trying to assess the exact circumstances of the incident and would take unspecified retaliatory steps accordingly. Gul conceded that Turkish aircraft may have unintentionally violated Syrian airspace.

It was not clear if Turkey was contemplating military retaliation, increased sanctions, or other possible steps, including demands for compensation or an apology. But Faruk Celik, the Turkish Labor and Social Security Minister, said his nation would retaliate "either in the diplomatic field or give other types of response."

"Even if we assume that there was a violation of Syria's airspace ? though the situation is still not clear ? the Syrian response cannot be to bring down the plane," Celik told reporters. "The incident is unacceptable. Turkey cannot endure it in silence."

Turkey has joined nations such as the United States in saying that Syrian President Bashar Assad should step down because of the uprising in his country that has killed thousands of people. Turkey also has set up refugee camps on its border for more than 32,000 Syrians who have fled the fighting.

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