Syrian Jet Incident Ups Turkish-Russian Tensions
Russian Plane Suspected of Carrying Arms for Syrian Regime
Moscow is denying that weapons were on board the Syrian Air jet forced to land in Ankara on Wednesday. But the incident is likely to increase tensions between Turkey and Syria. As Putin’s cancellation of a Monday visit to Istanbul shows, Turkey’s relationship with Russia could also be threatened.
The development must have come as a terrifying surprise for the 35 passengers and crew members. Their jet, a scheduled Syrian Air flight, had barely entered into Turkish airspace on a flight from Moscow to Damascus when it suddenly found itself flanked by two Turkish fighter jets. At 5:15 p.m. local time, Turkish officials forced the aircraft to land in Ankara.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu later declared Turkey had “received information this plane was carrying cargo of a nature that could not possibly be in compliance with the rules of civil aviation.” It is believed that the plane was carrying a Russian delivery for Bashar Assad’s military.
“We are determined to control weapons transfers to a regime that carries out such brutal massacres against civilians,” Davutoglu said. “It is unacceptable that such a transfer is made using our airspace.”
This may sound like a new version of the Cold War — with NATO member Turkey on one side and Russian ally Syria on the other. And it can also be certain that Ankara only forced the plane to land after close contact with its Western allies. It is also likely that the information about “non civilian cargo” on board came from American intelligence.