Posted on 06/22/2012 8:19:50 AM PDT by cunning_fish
Lebanon's Hezbollah-owned Al-Manar television station said on Friday that Syrian air defenses shot down a Turkish military aircraft, quoting Syrian security sources.
"Syrian security sources confirmed to a Manar correspondent in Damascus that Syrian defense forces shot down the Turkish fighter jet," a news flash on the Beirut-based station said.
Pro-Iranian Al-Mayadeen television station, which is based in Lebanon, also quoted what it said were Turkish sources as saying a jet had been shot down by Syrian air defenses.
There was no confirmation of either report. Earlier, Turkey -- a member of NATO -- said it had lost contact with a plane while it was over the sea off the southeastern coast, and a television station said it had crashed in Syrian territorial waters.
CNN Turk television said Turkey was in contact with the Syrian authorities to get permission to conduct a search for the airmen, although there was no immediate official confirmation.
In a statement, Turkey's military said a search and rescue operation was underway. It lost radar and radio contact with the plane after it took off from Erhac Airport in the eastern province of Malatya.
Two crew were aboard the F-4 at the time of the crash, the Turkish state news agency Anatolia said on its website, citing Malatya governor Ulvi Saran.
The Hurriyet daily newspaper reported that the plane had gone down in international waters and that the two airmen had been found alive and well following a search operation by Turkish forces.
The Chief of General Staff declined to comment further on the incident beyond the written statement.
Turkish warplanes regularly patrol along and off Turkey's southern Mediterranean coast.
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnews.msnbc.msn.com ...
Yes that is true Turkey is a Nato country
As per Hürriyet, the Syrians apologized.
Turkey sucks less than Syria. Let them have a war that Turkey wins.
They have more than just phantoms.
Thanks for the information. Chose the above as the truth which is known at this point based on this ... However, the plot thickens: just recently on Hürriyet, this came out: Turkish Prime Minister says cannot say whether Turkish warplane shot down or crashed, no news on pilots. This all looks high level from the reading of your post. May be layers of ruses and fuses are being lit. A prayer this is not what is taking place. May cooler heads prevail, and may zer0 or anyone in this gang not open his or their mouths. Imho ... a serious situation could be cooled if time is taken to find out what actually happened. May the time be taken.
DO NOT lump the Turks in with the Crazies. Turkey has had it’s own Muslim problems with the Crazies (as they call them) for years.
Turks proved themselves in Korea and elsewhere. If you want to see a history of a man who brought peace, stability and democracy to a portion of the ME, read the history of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk at Wiki.
PS. I’m there about 2-3 times a year.
Hotels, nightclubs (and women) in Istanbul are far beyond anything in NY, and the beaches around Anatolya are incredible. Water is a clear perfect blue/green.
He was so kind to Australian and NZ POWs after the Battle of Gallipoli that the former POWs built memorials to him in Aust and NZ.
Was there once on the anniversary of his death. At that moment, everything in the country stops... and I mean everything. No traffic, no airplanes in the sky, nothing, and then everyone singe a song in remembrance of him. It is broadcast on TV and radio, so imagine EVERY citizen in the country singing the song at once.
Very moving.
That’s a stupid thing to say void of any obvious intelligence on your part. It’s obvious you know little about the Turks.
Whatever though, continue on if it makes you feel good I guess.
I just read an article that said Magog is not Russia.
The article said Magog is Turkey.
Yeah, they were so helpful when we needed their assistance during operation Iraqi Freedom.
Syria did this or their Russian “advisers”? I’d guess the latter.
Was this flight on purpose, hoping that it would get shot down, for a pretext? Phantoms are rather obsolete so it wasn’t that much of a loss. As for the crew, these aren’t the kind of people to worry about loss of life.
Depends on one’s perspective, Turko-Ottoman history has not always left positive mark.
What gets more interesting is now that PM Erdogan cannot confirm or deny 1)the jet was actually shot down by Syria, and 2)that he’s actually received an apology from Damascus.
Hmmm.
As you said, let’s help cooler heads prevail on this one, and that U.S. government officials needs to keep their piehole shut. If people are a given a chance to cool down a bit and ascertain precisely what happened, then maybe missiles or air raids don’t get launched in the heat of the moment.
Well, Turkey certainly has been more assertive lately, some say they have Neo-Ottoman ambitions. Too many memories of Ottoman oppression still linger and considering their previous attempt at creating the caliphate, not too many folks would appreciate a Turkish resurgence.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.