Turkey: NATO should view Syria as attacking it
AP, Jun 25 2012
Turkey said Monday that it had asked for NATO response to the downing of its jet under both Articles 4 and 5 of the NATO Treaty. The announcement came on the eve of a meeting by NATO’s governing body to discuss the incident. The unarmed RF-4E reconnaissance jet was shot down well over 1 km outside Syrian airspace on Friday, and two Turkish pilots are still missing, the Turkish government says. It has insisted the plane was not spying on Syria. Turkish Deputy PM Bulent Arinc also said for the first time Monday that Syrian forces had opened ground fire on a CASA search and rescue plane shortly after the downing, but did not say if that plane was hit. Arinc said:
Turkey retains its right to retaliate for this hostile act, but we have no intention of going at war with anyone. Turkey will ask NATO to consider the jet’s downing under Article 5. Turkey has made necessary applications with NATO regarding Article 4 and Article 5. It should be known that within legality we will of course use all rights granted under international law until the end. This also includes self-defense. This also includes many forms of retaliation. 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. We strongly deny Syrian claims that the plane was shot down by short-range anti-aircraft fire inside Syrian airspace. The plane was hit with a laser-guided or heat-guided missile in international airspace. It mistakenly strayed into Syrian airspace when it was flying at an altitude of 200 feet and at a speed of 300 knots, but left Syrian airspace after warnings from Turkish radar operators. It received no warning from Syrian forces during its five-minute flight inside Syrian territory. It was hit while flying 13 miles away at an altitude of 7,400 feet. It leaned on its left side and fell steeply for four miles toward the east. It crashed into Syrian waters and its wreckage is believed to be lying at a depth of about 1,000 m. Syria is misleading the world when it says its forces could not recognize the plane until after it was downed. Its IFF signals were active during the entire flight. Turkey even intercepted radio conversations in which Syrian forces referred to the plane. It 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. Syria cold-bloodedly destroyed it. It was an extremely hostile action.
Hurriyet cited intelligence sources on Monday which claimed to have overheard Syrian forces referring to the plane using the Turkish word for “neighbor,” “komsu,” in an intercepted radio conversation.
