Turkish PM: Syria downed Turkish jet in int’l air space

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said that a Turkish military jet downed by Syria on June 22 was hit in international air space, 13 miles off the coast of Syria.

Speaking at a meeting of provincial leaders of his Justice and Development (AK) Party, Erdogan stated that the military jet immediately lost altitude and speed after getting hit and fell on to the sea some 8.5 miles off the coast of Syria.

No warning was made to our military jet before it was attacked by Syria, Erdogan noted.

Once the parts of the military jet get removed from the sea, we will be able to find out if it was hit by a missile or an anti-aircraft weapon, Erdogan stressed.

The military jet was attacked in an hostile manner, Erdogan said.

Stressing that every country could violate the air space of another for a brief moment, Erdogan said that the unarmed Turkish military jet was hit without a warning.
In recent days, Syrian helicopters violated Turkish air space for five times. Turkey made the necessary warnings and forced the helicopters to leave Turkish air space, Erdogan also said.
The Turkish RF4 military reconnaissance plane was shot down by Syria on June 22 while on an unarmed training and test mission in international airspace after unintentionally straying into Syrian airspace.

The incident has drawn widespread international condemnation amid the continuing violence in Syria.

Turkey has said the Syrian act constituted “a clear and a grave violation of international law” and that Ankara would take “every necessary measure.”

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said rules of military engagement of the Turkish Armed Forces had been revised in the face of the incident, adding, “any Syrian military element approaching the Turkish border from Syria will be considered as a military threat and dealt with accordingly.” <Cihan News Agency>

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