Syria Says Downed Turkish Jet Violated Sovereignty
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad al-Makdissi on Monday insisted that a Turkish F-4 Phantom jet its forces shot down on Friday had "violated Syrian sovereignty."
"The Turkish warplane violated Syrian airspace, and in turn Syrian air defenses fired back and the plane crashed inside Syrian territorial waters," he told a news conference that he said would "refute the lies" of Turkish officials.
"What happened is a gross violation of Syrian sovereignty," Makdissi said, adding that "Turkey itself has already attested that the plane violated Syrian airspace."
He said the aircraft was sighted flying at "800 kilometers per hour" when it was "one or two kilometers from the Syrian coast." He added that it could be seen with the "naked eye" as it headed towards the shoreline.
Makdissi said the plane could not have been hit over international waters, because the gun that hit it has a "maximum range of two and a half kilometers" and that "holes on the tail of the plane prove it was shot down by machinegun fire, not by missiles."
He said Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's version of events was "completely contrary to the facts of this attack on Syrian sovereignty."
Davutoglu told Turkey's TRT television that, "according to our conclusions, our plane was shot down in international airspace, 13 nautical miles from Syria."
"The Syrians knew full well that it was a Turkish military plane and the nature of its mission. Nobody should dare put Turkey's (military) capabilities to the test."
NATO alliance is to hold an emergency meeting in Brussels on Tuesday at the request of member nation Turkey.
"If the goal of the meeting is to calm the situation and promote stability, we wish it success," Makdissi said.
But "if the goal of the meeting is aggression, we say that Syrian airspace, territory and waters are sacred for the Syrian army, just as Turkish airspace, territory and waters are sacred for the Turkish army."
He said search and rescue operations and cooperation between Turkey and Syria were continuing.
"Unfortunately, we didn't find the pilots but we did find the wreckage of the fighter jet," he said.
Turkey-Syria relations were already strained by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's outspoken condemnation of the Syrian regime's bloody crackdown, which rights activists say has killed more than 15,000 people since March 2011.
25 June 2012, 14:42
24
Assad and his cronies are a bunch of liars. He will pay for this...The butcher of Damascus believes in shooting first and asking questions second...a sick killer.
25 June 2012, 14:52
01
we didn't hear this when the Israeli F-16 jet violated the Syrian sovereignty & no action has been taken.... ohh sorry I forgot, you are such a Rabbet in Golan, and day by day, we are convinced that Israel is your allied party in this region !! is it true ??!!
25 June 2012, 15:29
01
The Russians stationed in Syria were the ones who downed the Turkish jet. Let Assad and his cowardly army not take credit for this action. We have seen the Syrian army's capabilities when the Israelis fly over the presidential palace of this butcher.
25 June 2012, 15:33
00
The stupidity of the Syrians allowed them to rule the genius Lebanese for over 30 years. It is unbelievable what these stupid Syrians do and how little they underestimate the brilliant Lebanese! Don't they know that we, Lebanese, know it all? My Gosh!
25 June 2012, 15:37
00
I mean why would Syria want to down a fighter jet violating its sovereignty? Here, the modern-day supporters of freedom, democracy and Lebanese sovereignty do nothing when (even more, encourage) the Israelis to violate our sovereignty every single day! Why can't the Syrians understand?
25 June 2012, 15:55
00
and you keep dreaming here, hallucinating and wishing that bunch of murderers called Turks will have balls to come to Damascus. Yallah, why not, let them try and get kicked.. we also have toys that kill and destroy badly..
25 June 2012, 15:59
00
Riiiight you shot it down with machine gun fire, we'll just wait a couple of day when you will apologize as usual.
25 June 2012, 18:13
00
Destroy the Ottman crucial machine and their regime of crimes and war criminals, like their occupation to Cyprus and the Armenian genocide
25 June 2012, 19:06
00
Thank you Mr Jihad al-Makdissi does this mean that from now on we can shoot any Syrian soldiers that violate our sovereignty or are you still partial to the concept of one people two nation.
25 June 2012, 19:08
00
It's a shame Syria doesn't respect Lebanese territorial integrity in the same way.
25 June 2012, 19:48
00
If any other country had foreign planes flying over their land, would you expect any other result?
25 June 2012, 21:38
12
The war senario is launched and Asad ate the bate:)Gud Luck ASAD
25 June 2012, 21:44
00
Jihad al-Makdissi is exactly like the former Minister of misinformation of Iraq...who will the world believe? A spokesperson for that works for a brutal regime or the Turkish Government ?
Downing that Turkish plane was a big mistake on Syria's part! NATO has a green light to attack without worrying a veto from Russia or China
26 June 2012, 03:49
00
NATO has no stomach for another war right now , nothing will come out of this , just a simple warning to the Assad regime but more defection from the Syrian army on a much larger and faster scale within the next 2 month Assad's days are numbered and he knows it
