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Damascus said yesterday the interception of the Syrian airplane was an act of piracy, further heightening tensions between the neighbours after Turkey’s chief of staff warned his troops would respond with greater force if shells from Syria continued to hit Turkish territory.
Military jets escorted the Damascus-bound Airbus A-320,which was carrying around 30 passengers from Moscow, into Ankara airport late on Wednesday after Turkey received intelligence that it was carrying “non-civilian cargo”.
Russia, which has stood behind Assad’s government during an 18-month-old uprising that has killed some 30 000 people, angrily demanded an explanation.
“The lives and safety of the passengers were placed under threat,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that 17 of its nationals on board were refused access to Russian diplomatic staff.
Turkey said it had acted within international law.
“We are determined to control weapons transfers to a regime that carries out such brutal massacres against civilians. It is unacceptable that such a transfer is made using our airspace,” Ahmet Davutoglu, Syria’s foreign minister, said.
“We received information this plane was carrying cargo of a nature that could not possibly be in compliance with the rules of civil aviation,” he said in Athens during an official visit.
Meanwhile, Mahmoud Said, Syria’s transport minister, accused Turkey of “air piracy”, according to Lebanon’s Al-Manar television station.
The country has also closed its airspace to Turkish planes, a development that followed Ankara’s declaration that Syrian airspace was “unsafe” for Turkish aircraft.
Russia is one of the closest allies of Assad’s government and has blocked several UN resolutions against Damascus.
“Once a week, a Syrian Airlines airplane flies from Moscow bound for Damascus,” the Interfax news agency quoted Vnukovo Airport spokeswoman Yelena Krylova as saying. “The plane took off normally, there were no incidents.”
An unidentified “Russian arms export source” told Interfax that there were no weapons or military equipment aboard.
Assad described Syria and Turkey as “brothers” in an interview published yesterday, saying Turkey “has no reason to go to war” over recent cross-border clashes.
“We should work on this issue together,” he told left-leaning Turkish newspaper Aydinlik, after a week of shelling between the neighbours left several dead.
“In times like this, countries should correct their mistakes by talking to each other. (The) Turkish public is noble. We have no problems with the Turkish people and the Turkish soldiers. Syria is not an enemy to Turkey. We’ve always known Turkey as brothers.”
But the interview, which appeared to be an effort to calm tensions, also carried a rebuke.
“We have problems with the Turkish government,” said Assad. “We’re having problems along the Turkish border because of the attitude of the Turkish government. (The) Turkish government’s also responsible for the deaths.
“And the reason the relationship has come to this point is also a fault of the Turkish government. Not the Turkish people.”
The comments were published a day after the grounding of the Syrian passenger jet intercepted en route from Moscow to Damascus.
The airliner, carrying some 30 passengers, was allowed to leave Turkey and arrived at its destination. — Al Jazeera.
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