NATO chief condemns Syria over jet downing

NATO chief condemns Syria over jet downing

The head of the NATO military alliance has described the downing of a Turkish fighter jet by Syrian government forces unacceptable.

The condemnation came shortly after Turkey briefed NATO's North Atlantic Council in discussions on Tuesday held under Article 4 of NATO's founding treaty, which allows a NATO member to request consultations if its security has been threatened.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO's secretary-general, said the alliance condemned it "in the strongest terms", and expressed solidarity with Turkey, but made no mention of retaliatory action.

For his part, Turkey's prime minister, responding to the incident in a speech to the ruling AK party's parliamentary group, said the Turkish military will respond to any future violation of its border by the Syrian military.

"The rules of engagement of the Turkish Armed Forces have changed," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

"Any military element that approaches the Turkish border from Syria by posing a security risk and danger will be regarded as a threat and treated as a military target."

Conflicting claims

Syria insists that the Turkish aircraft violated its airspace on Friday.

But Turkey says that although the unarmed RF-4E reconnaissance jet had unintentionally strayed into Syria's air space, it was inside international airspace when it was brought down.

Erdogan said Syria shot down the unarmed plane in international airspace in a "deliberate" and "hostile" act and without warning.

He said border violations in the region were not uncommon, and claimed that Syrian helicopters violated Turkish airspace five times recently, without Turkish response.

"The Syrian regime has no more legitimacy, that is clear. Women, children, the elderly, have been killed relentlessly by this tyranny," Erdogan said.

"No one should be deceived by our cold blooded stance," he said. "Our acting with common sense should not be perceived as a weakness."

But Russia, one of Syria's closest allies, said on Tuesday that the incident should not be seen as a provocation.

"It is important that what happened is not viewed as a provocation or a premeditated action," the foreign ministry said in a statement on its website, which went on to call for restraint.

Al Jazeera's Rula Amin, reporting from Beirut, said that by shooting down the Turkish jet, the Syrians had successfully marked the limits of foreign intervention in their affairs.

"For the Syrians, they have made their point," she said.

"They are not going to tolerate any violations of their airspace … What they're saying is that they're still strong, they are defiant, and they will fight back."

The downing of the jet has aggravated tense ties between the two neighbours.

'Violent and crushing'

Turkey has repeatedly called on Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down as 33,000 Syrians have sought refuge on its soil, fleeing a government crackdown on a popular uprising.

Erdogan said as much as Turkey's friendship is valuable, Turkey's "wrath is as much violent and crushing".

He said: "we will continue to be a burning torment for circles who have adopted a hostile attitude towards Turkey."

Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught, reporting from Ankara, said that Syria's decision to shoot down the plane came after months of what Damascus regarded as Turkish meddling in its internal affairs.

The fact that the rebel group, the Free Syrian Army, is increasingly using Turkey as the base from which it conducts operations against the Syrian government has antagonised the Assad government, she said, as has its belief that Turkey is now turning a blind eye to weapons being smuggled into Syria.

"Turkey does believe that it stood strongly besides Syria, and gave it the best advice in the world," our correspondent said.

Public anger in Turkey is largely muted, with Huseyin Celik, a senior member of the AKP, saying that the party's grass-roots is against going to war.

I have been wondering what our response would be ever since this event happened. I hve no love at all for Syria. But I just wonder how close an ally Turkey is to us.

The Iraq war faced strong domestic opposition in Turkey and as such, the Turkish Parliament couldn't reach the absolute majority of 276 votes needed for allowing U.S. troops to attack Iraq from Turkey.

In late 2007, Turkey recalled its ambassador to the United States after the House Committee on Foreign Affairs passed a United States resolution on the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire.

Barack Obama made his a visit to Turkey, stopping off in both Ankara and Istanbul, on April 6–7, 2009. There had been critics in the U.S. who claimed that Turkey should not be rewarded by an early presidential visit as its government had been systematically reorienting foreign policy onto an Islamist axis.

In April 2010, Washington stepped up its efforts to impose a new round of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. But key powers such as Turkey, India and China oppose the adoption of a new round of sanctions against Tehran.

Furthermore relations between Turkey and (another great US ally) Israel have been strained since the 2008–09 Gaza War and the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid.

Nevertheless, the United States and Turkey share membership in NATO. And the United States also actively supports Turkey's membership bid to join the European Union. I dont know why we want to get involved in that, but we do.

I suppose we should support Turkey as they do allow us to use an airbase in their country and have been somewhat helpful in our war on terror. But man...I just dont want to be drawn into that mess in Syria. I didnt want to get involved in Libya either. OTOH, I certainly would hate to see Turkey turn to Russia or Iran and away from us, so what to do?

I certainly do not want to get involved militarily. I dont think these so called Islamic countries really care much about the west and particularly the US. I think a lot of these countries are willing to accept aid from us and use us but are generally unwilling to help us in the UN when we need their vote. They willingly accept our money and aid, but many will stab us in the back the first chance they get. And I dont trust those countries. Plus most have absolutely no qualms about eradicating another people from the face of the earth if those people happen to be Jewish.

And I dont like being in bed with those sorts of people.

Looks like shit is getting serious there:

Turkey sends military convoys toward Syrian border

ISKENDERUN, Turkey -- Turkish troops and military vehicles deployed toward the border with Syria on Thursday as a precaution after Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan gave orders to react to any Syrian threat approaching the frontier.

Erdogan, who has given shelter in the border area to rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad, announced the new rules of engagement for Turkish troops on the border after Syrian air defenses shot down a Turkish warplane last Friday.

"I can confirm there are troops being deployed along the border in Hatay province. Turkey is taking precautions after its jet was shot down," a Turkish official said on condition of anonymity.
He said he did not know how many troops or vehicles were being moved but said they were being stationed in the Yayladagi, Altinozu and Reyhanli border areas of Turkey's southern Hatay province. He said anti-aircraft guns were also being stationed along the border.

A military convoy of vehicles including anti-aircraft missile launchers from the 5th Mechanized Armored Brigade left a base in the southeastern city of Gaziantep on Thursday and travelled to neighboring Kilis province on the border, video from the Turkish Dogan news agency showed.

Roads were closed to traffic as the convoy, escorted by police cars, passed by.

Another convoy of about 30 military vehicles, including trucks loaded with missile batteries, left Turkey's coastal town of Iskenderun on Wednesday and deployed near the Syrian border 30 miles away, Turkish news agencies said.

Turkish television film showed the column moving on Wednesday, escorted by police cars, along a narrow highway leading out of the town, the main port of Turkey's Hatay province. It included rocket launchers on transporters, anti-aircraft artillery and military ambulances.
A Reuters journalist saw another large truck carrying an anti-aircraft gun leave Iskenderun on Thursday for the border area, escorted by two army trucks, one carrying 10 troops.

'No more tolerance'

Erdogan said any military element moving towards the Turkish border and deemed threatening would be declared a military target. The preponderance of air defense weapons in the convoy suggested Turkey was preparing for any possible approach by Syrian helicopters or warplanes.

While the military movements were ratcheting up the pressure on Syria, Turkey was likely being very careful, NBC News producer Aziz Akyavas in Turkey said.

"Syria has been chasing Syrians fleeing the country and hitting Turkish soldiers and posts," he said on the telephone on the border with Syria. "Turkey is saying, from now on no more tolerance."

The Turkish border region is sheltering more than 33,000 Syrian refugees as well as elements of the rebel Free Syrian Army.

But "the Turks are being very careful, using diplomatic language very carefully -- a war would be a real disaster," he added.

State-run Anatolia news agency said armored military vehicles were being transported to military installations in Sanliurfa, in the middle of Turkey's border with Syria, and Hatay, a panhandle province that juts down into Syria.

It said several military vehicles had travelled separately to a military garrison in the border town of Reyhanli in Hatay.

Specific details have not been made public of the new rules of engagement issued to troops after the shooting down of the warplane, which Turkey says was in international air space but Syria says entered its territory at high speed.

Aram Nerguizian, a Syria expert at Washington, D.C.,-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, told msnbc.com that Assad "has a very small window" to say that the downing of the the Turkish fighter was a mistake.

"Syria is sitting and not providing a high-level response to this (and) the last thing these players should be doing is not talking to each other," he said. "These are two of the region’s largest militaries and it would be disastrous if things deteriorated in ways neither side expected."

Nerguizian added that "neither side wants to show weakness."

Blast near busy market

Meanwhile, a strong explosion rocked the Syrian capital Thursday near a busy market and the Palace of Justice, sending black smoke billowing into the sky. State TV reported at least three people were wounded and around 20 cars were damaged.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene said some cars were charred and many had their windshields blown out.

Syria's state-run TV said the explosion was in the parking lot of the Palace of Justice, a compound that houses several courts. The blast happened at 1 p.m. near the capital's famous Hamidiyeh Market, an area crowded with families stocking up on food and other supplies for the weekend, which begins on Friday in Syria.

Witnesses reported hearing one blast, but state-run TV said two explosions struck the area. The report also said a roadside bomb was found but did not explode.