(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Turkish President Abdullah Gul vowed Saturday that his country will take all necessary actions in response to the Syrian military's shooting down of a Turkish airplane over the Mediterranean Saturday.
In statements to reporters in the central Anatolian city of Kayseri, Gul said it was not possible to ignore the fact that Syria had shot down a Turkish military airplane.
"It is not possible to cover over a thing like this, whatever is necessary will no doubt be done," Gul said. The Turkish military said it had lost contact with one of its F-4 fighter jets off the southern Turkish coast near Syria on Friday morning and Damascus later admitted it had shot the plane down.
In response to the Syrian claims that the Turkish aircraft had penetrated Syria's airspace when it was shot down, Gul said it was normal for aircraft to briefly cross into foreign airspace and said a probe into the incident would look at whether in fact it was downed while in Turkish airspace.
"When we think of the speed of these jet planes while flying above the sea, crossing over borders for a short distance and then back again is a little bit routine," said Gul.
He unveiled that Turkey is in contact with Syria over the incident and Turkish and Syrian forces are cooperating in the search for the two missing crew of the aircraft.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.