Erdogan Meets Generals After Syria Shoots Plane - Businessweek

Syria shot down a Turkish warplane over the Mediterranean Sea, escalating tensions between neighbors already at odds over Syria’s violent repression of protests.
“Our plane was brought down by Syria,” said a statement issued early today by the office of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after he met for more than two hours with senior ministers and military leaders. Operations to rescue the pilots are ongoing and “after all details have been completely brought to light, Turkey will define a final stance and decisively take the necessary steps,” it said.
Syrian artillery shot down the Turkish jet as it flew low and fast over its territorial waters 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from land before noon Friday and it splashed down 10 kilometers offshore, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency cited an unidentified military spokesman as saying.
While Turkey and Syria were working together on the rescue operation, the incident may add to tensions between the countries, which have increased since Syria President Bashar al- Assad stepped up a crackdown against opponents of his rule that has led to more than 10,000 deaths. Syria has criticized Turkey for hosting meetings of the Syrian opposition.
U.S. intelligence officers based in southern Turkey are working to determine which Syrian opposition groups should receive arms across the Turkish border, and Turkey is helping pay for the weapons along with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the New York Times reported June 21, citing U.S. and Arab officials.
Erdogan, previously an Assad ally, has repeatedly called in recent months for the Syrian leader to step down and end the bloodshed. Several thousand Syrians have sought refuge in Turkey. In April, two people seeking to flee into Turkey were wounded by gunfire across the border from Syrian forces, prompting reports in Milliyet and other Turkish newspapers that Turkey’s army was considering establishing a buffer zone inside Syria.
United Nations Syria envoy Kofi Annan, speaking yesterday before the Turkish plane was reported missing, said that talks are under way for a conference on Syria to be held in Geneva on June 30, to which all potential contributors to a solution would be invited.
Turkey’s state Anatolian news agency said that an F-4 fighter with two crewmen had taken off at 10:30 a.m. yesterday from the military airfield at Malatya in southwestern Turkey. According to the Turkish Air Force website, the base is home to F-4E Phantom II fighter-bombers, which were built from 1958 to 1981 by St. Louis-based McDonnell Douglas Corp., which in 1997 merged with Boeing Co. (BA) (BA), based in Chicago.
The Turkish military lost contact with the plane at 11:58 a.m. local time yesterday and began search-and-rescue operations, according to a statement on the armed forces website.
To contact the reporters on this story: Benjamin Harvey in Istanbul at [email protected]; Ali Berat Meric in Ankara at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Walcott at [email protected]

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