Turkey says Syrian jet carried Russian arms, drawing Moscow deeper into crisis - Washington Post [getdailynow.blogspot.com]
BEIRUT â€" Syria accused Turkey of “air piracy†on Thursday after Turkey forced a Syrian passenger plane to land in Ankara and seized equipment that may have been destined for use by the Syrian military in its war against armed rebels.
Syria’s state-controlled television news quoted Transport Minister Mahmoud Said as saying the move amounted to “air piracy,†Reuters reported.
The comments exacerbated the already high tensions between Turkey and Syria since a Syrian mortar killed five civilians in a Turkish border village last week, prompting Turkey to retaliate.
Fears that the Syria conflict could spill beyond its borders have prompted the United States to dispatch a small force of 150 troops to Jordan to help the authorities there formulate contingency plans for the Syria crisis next door, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told a news conference in Brussels.
The Syrian aircraft â€" a civilian Airbus 320 with 30 passengers on board â€" was intercepted by F-16s as it entered Turkish airspace shortly after 5 p.m. local time on Wednesday (10 a.m. in Washington). The plan was to Esenboga Airport in Ankara, the Turkish capital. Hours earlier, Turkey had ordered all Turkish civilian aircraft to cease flights through Syrian airspace, apparently to prevent Syria from taking reciprocal action.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told Turkish television network TGRT that the plane had been forced down because it was carrying “non-civilian cargo†and “banned material.â€
“There is information that the plane had cargo on board that does not meet the requirements of civil aviation,†Davutoglu said. The Today’s Zaman newspaper later reported that Turkish authorities found military communication equipment and “parts that could be used in missiles†on the plane.
Russia demands explanation
The Russian Foreign Ministry said Turkey never informed the Russian embassy that 17 Russians were on board the plane. After learning about it from news reports, the embassy sent consulate workers and a doctor to the airport, spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said, and demanded access to the Russians.
“Russia insists that the Turkish authorities must explain their conduct regarding Russian citizens and prevent similar incidents in the future,†Lukashevich said in a statement.
“Turkish authorities denied without explanations and in violation of the bilateral consular convention a meeting of the diplomats with the Russian citizens, who had been barred from the airport terminal for eight hours but sporadically allowed to stand on the tarmac,†Lukashevich said.“No food was supplied either.†he said.
The Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed official with a “Russian weapons export organization†as saying that there were no weapons or military hardware on board the plane.
The official pointed out that Russia has not suspended military-technological cooperation with Syria, and therefore could send weapons to Damascus through official channels, rather than trying to smuggle such material on a civilian plane.
“If it had been necessary to ship any military hardware or weapons to Syria, this would have been done through the established procedure rather than in an illegal way, not to mention using a civilian aircraft,†the official said, according to Interfax.
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