Turkish Deputy PM: Syria shot at our search and rescue plane

Turkey said Monday it would push NATO to consider Syria’s downing of a Turkish jet as an attack on the whole military alliance. Tensions grew later Monday as Turkish Deputy Prime Minister 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.

The announcement came on the eve of a meeting by NATO’s governing body to discuss the downed jet. Despite deep frustration among many NATO countries over the conflict in Syria, where the opposition says President Bashar al-Assad’s crackdown on an increasingly armed popular uprising has killed 14,000 people, it’s highly unlikely the military alliance will take armed action against the Arab state.

There was no response from the Syrian government regarding Monday’s alleged incident, but Syrian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Jihad Makdissi said that the shooting down of the Turkish jet on Friday was inevitable. „The plane disappeared and then reappeared in Syrian airspace, flying at 100 meters (330 feet) altitude and about 1 to 2 kms [0.6-1.2 miles] from the Syrian coast,” Makdissi told a Damascus news conference.

„We had to react immediately, even if the plane was Syrian we would have shot it down,” he said. „The Syrian response was an act of defense of our sovereignty carried out by anti-aircraft machine gun which has a maximum range of 2.5 km.”

The unarmed RF-4E reconnaissance jet was shot down a mile (1.6 kilometers) inside international airspace, and two Turkish pilots were still missing, the Turkish government says. It has insisted the plane was not spying on Syria.

Arinc said Turkey believed the plane was hit with a laser-guided or heat-guided missile — capable of hitting the plane in international airspace.

The deputy premier admitted the jet mistakenly strayed into Syrian airspace when it was flying at an altitude of 200 feet and at a speed of 300 knots, but said it left the Syrian airspace after warnings from Turkish radar operators and that it received no warning from Syrian forces during its five-minute flight inside Syrian territory.

„It was hit while flying 13 miles away (from the Syrian coast) at an altitude of 7,400 feet,” Arinc said. „It leaned on its left side and fell steeply for four miles toward the east.”

Arinc said the plane crashed into Syrian waters and its wreckage is believed to be below 1,000 meters (3,280 feet).

Makdissi went on to signal that Syria was not interested in armed conflict with Turkey, but also warned against attacking it: „We are committed to our friendly relations with Turkey and the Turkish people,” he said, adding, „NATO is supposed to be there to strengthen countries. If their meeting is for hostile reasons [they should know that] Syrian land and waters are sacred.”

Arinc said Turkey retained its right to „retaliate” against what he called a „hostile act,” but he added, „We have no intention of going at war with anyone.”

Still, he added that Turkey will push NATO to consider the jet’s downing under Article 5 in a key alliance treaty. Article 5 states that an attack against one NATO member shall be considered an attack against all members.

The North Atlantic Council — which includes ambassadors of the 28 NATO countries — works by consensus and all members must approve any action. The meeting Tuesday comes after Turkey requested it under Article 4 of the treaty, which allows a NATO ally to request such a consultation if it feels its territorial integrity or security has been threatened.

Asked if Turkey will insist on the activation of Article 5 of NATO, Arinc said, „No doubt, 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,” Arinc said. „This also includes self-defense. This also includes retaliation many-fold. 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.”

Meanwhile, official sources in Ankara confirmed on Monday that 200 Syrian army officers, among them a general, defected recently with their families to refugee camps on the Syria-Turkey border. The Syrian general is the highest-ranking defector since the uprising against the Assad regime began some 16 months ago.

Some 50 people were killed in Syria Monday, most of them soldiers and armed rebel fighters in Haleb, Hamma and Homs. Especially chilling amid the bloody fighting that some experts have called a civil war, were photographs published the same day showing the Syrian president playing badminton with his wife, Asma, in the presidential palace in Damascus. The Syrian first lady was wearing a shirt with the words: „You, my beautiful country.” It was unclear when the photo was taken.