Turkish F-4 Phantom Downed On Syrian Border [Update]

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Update [2012-6-23 3:37:44 by Oui]: PM Erdogan confirms F-4 Phantom was shot down by Syria – see below

PM could not yet confirm Turkish war plane shut down by Syria

(Hürriyet Daily News) – Syria shot down a Turkish jet on June 22, an official told the Hürriyet Daily News, adding that Damascus expressed sorrow over the incident and was cooperating with Ankara in search and rescue efforts for two Turkish pilots in Syrian territorial waters.

The information, however, was not confirmed by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who said “I cannot say that it was shot down. I can’t say it before obtaining concrete information,” in a press conference he held just before a high level security summit.

Despite reports that two Turkish pilots ejected from the plane and they were safe, Erdoğan said “there was no information on the state of the pilots.” But he denied reports that Turkish pilots were taken hostage by Syrian forces. In his separate dialogue with journalists travelling with him, Erdoğan “If this is true, then there would be a great problem.”

The incident could potentially add more tension to the already-tense relations between Turkey and Syria over Bashar al-Assad’s oppression against his own people.

Plane crashes at noon

It was not clear exactly how or where the incident occurred, but the military’s earlier statement said the connection with the Turkish F-4 aircraft was lost at 11:58 a.m., over the sea just off the southwest of the Hatay province, bordering Syria. The plane had taken off from the Erhaç airbase in Malatya, Central Anatolia at 10:00 a.m. It was also not clear what purpose the Turkish jet was serving in that region, but there are unconfirmed reports that it was carrying out a reconnaissance flight. It is not known whether the plane was shot down by a Syrian jet or by a surface to air missile.

Syria ‘shoots down Turkish fighter jet’

Turkey confirms that Syria shot down warplane

A Turkish source had said yesterday that Syria expressed sorrow after the incident, in which a Turkish jet went down in Syrian territorial waters just before noon yesterday.

“We’ve seen the reports you’ve seen. We have obviously been in contact with our Turkish ally. But with regard to the specifics of the case, I think we’re going to let the Turks speak to it rather than speak to it ourselves. I think we’ll let the Turks speak to it. To my knowledge, they haven’t raised this at NATO at this point.”, US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said.