Turkey calls for NATO meeting over Syria

Selcan Hacaoglu - The Associated Press

AP Photo/Hakan Goktepe, Turkish Foreign Ministry, HO
In this image made available by the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, left, is seen talking to an advisor after an interview with the state-run TRT Television in Ankara, Turkey, Sunday, June 24, 2012. Davutoglu told State TV that Turkey would seek the meeting over article 4 of the NATO charter concerning Friday's incident. The article says member countries "will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the parties is threatened." Davutoglu said Sunday that the jet was downed in international airspace after it mistakenly entered Syria, but the plane was not on a spying mission.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey is calling on NATO to discuss a response to Syria's downing of a Turkish jet in what Turkish leaders insist was international airspace. The incident has deepened the regional turmoil caused by the conflict in Syria, where reports Sunday said more than a dozen people had died in the latest clashes between rebels and government troops.

The plane wreckage was found Sunday in the Mediterranean at a depth of 3,281 feet (1,000 meters), Turkish state-run TRT television said. The pilots are unaccounted for.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the jet was on a training flight to test Turkey's radar capabilities, not spying on Syria. He said the plane mistakenly strayed into Syrian airspace Friday, but was quickly warned to leave by Turkish authorities and was a mile inside international airspace when it was shot down off the coast of Latakia.

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June 24, 2012

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1. Basil Zafiriou wrote on June 24, 2012 10:48 AM	Turkish pilots must be awfully incompetent, for they keep straying into their neighbours’ airspace daily.

2. Philip Vorgias wrote on June 24, 2012 1:07 PM	The General staff removed their navigation devices, because they think they own the whole eastern med airspace.

3. Philip Vorgias wrote on June 24, 2012 6:43 PM	The Turks are trying to leverage the situation in Syria to promote their importance to NATO and to the USA in particular. In fact, Turkey's leadership have fanned the flames with Syria hopeing to bring things to a head, all in their quest to elevate themselves. The Arab nations are taking a second look at Turkey and wondering how much they can be trusted, if they'll sacrifice Syria to promote themselves. Really, the Turks have shown they still harbor the Ottoman vision of dominating the middle east-for the west. How little things have changed in a century.
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Wednesday, May 22, 2013 Last Update: 11:58 AM ET