Erdogan Says Intercepted Syrian Plane Carried Ammunition for Damascus
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday the cargo seized on a Syrian plane intercepted on its way from Moscow to Damascus carried military equipment and ammunition for the Syrian regime.
Erdogan said the cargo was "equipment and ammunition shipped to the Syrian Defense Ministry" from a Russian military supplier, in remarks televised by NTV news channel.
Erdogan did not name the Russian supplier, but said it was the Russian counterpart of Turkey's Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation, which is the Turkish army's main provider of military equipment.
He also declined to comment on the source of the intelligence Ankara received on Wednesday, after which two Turkish F-16 fighters forced the Syrian passenger plane to make an emergency landing in Ankara.
The confiscated material is still being studied by relevant departments, according to Erdogan, who noted that a meticulous procedure was applied in the process.
Ankara's grounding of the Syrian plane carrying 35 passengers, 17 of them Russian nationals, for nine hours before finally allowing it to resume its journey has drawn intense criticism from Damascus and its main ally Moscow.
Damascus accused Ankara of hostility and demanded the return of the seized cargo, while Moscow denied it contained arms of any kind.
11 October 2012, 20:03
36
And the Russian hypocrites warn all not to interfere. Talking about ethical egoism!
11 October 2012, 20:14
37
Put the arms on TV for the world to see what Russia is providing the mass murderer to kill more.
12 October 2012, 22:22
00
they cant play that game with Russia,turkey is lost between WEST and Russia,they want secure the election by satisfying inside and west,but mean while they know very well playing with Russian bear with fire can cause some serious damage to his interest in the region,this was a fault information from CIA to Turkish intelligent,which russia made fun of them both
11 October 2012, 20:14
34
as are the iranians, and they are in syria in droves as well as their agents/mercenaries who shall be dying doing their 'jihadist duties'.
can't wait to hear that expanation.
12 October 2012, 09:06
31
actually they do---they are telling everyone not to send weapons and now they are caught redhanded. It give others to either give aid to the rebels or take other measure to prevent weapons from reaching the regime.
12 October 2012, 12:57
12
mowaten: you only forget that a state has no right to murder and shell its own people... that normally is reserved to the enemy... so you approve that a state regards its own citizens as enemies, never shelling its true enemy israel but cowardly killing its citizens! it goes against all international laws and treaties!
it s called crime against humanity....
12 October 2012, 15:43
02
ANY dictatorship call those who rise against them terrorists... nothing new under the sun and you don t want to see more than that, poor syrian supporters...
12 October 2012, 10:29
22
turkey has not revealed what was on the pplane ..and it is known that everything on the plane was on the planes manifest ..so this action by turkey was useless , this was simply them being paranoid and once they found nothing they came up with this excuse so they dont seem silly. they treated the passengers badly and now must find a way to justify this action that is why they are doing this
12 October 2012, 14:21
02
Russia has overstepped its mark by supporting the indiscriminate murder of Syrians by Assad. It must be that these dictators stick together in good times and bad.
12 October 2012, 15:44
01
syria just wants to drag turkey into war to justify the use of hezbos and iran! they are desperate coz they see they cannot win. so better a huge scale war to defend the regime than losing power.
who will suffer collateral damage? lebanon with the benediction of M8!
12 October 2012, 17:00
02
oh!! seems your alzheimer has taken you again! you forgot how it all started with the syrian shellings of turkey? lol.... you are so biased
