Turkish warplanes shoot down Syrian helicopter

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey said its warplanes shot down a Syrian helicopter on Monday, Sept 16 after it crossed into Turkish airspace, Today’s Zaman reported.

The government has warned that it has taken all necessary measures to defend itself against any further such violations.

Turkey scrambled two F-16 jets along the border between its southern Hatay province and Syria after warning the Mi-17 helicopter it was approaching Turkish airspace shortly before 2:30 pm (1130 GMT), the military said in a statement.

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said a warplane shot down the helicopter after it ventured up to 2 kilometers into Turkey near the border town of Yayladağı. "It was repeatedly warned by our air defense elements," he said.

It came down in a ball of flames inside Syrian territory after being hit, amateur video footage showed.

"Turkey will definitely not allow any violation of its borders. … We will defend our borders and our people's security to the end," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu told reporters in Paris.

"No one will have the nerve to violate Turkey's borders in any way again," he said after a meeting to discuss Syria with US Secretary of State John Kerry, British Foreign Secretary William Hague and their French counterpart, Laurent Fabius.

He said details of the incident would be provided to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the UN Security Council and fellow members of the NATO military alliance.

Syria's army acknowledged the helicopter had strayed into Turkish airspace for a short time “while monitoring terrorists moving across the border into Syria”, but said it was an accident and that the aircraft was on its way back when it was shot down.

In a statement carried by state news agency SANA, it accused Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government of trying to increase tensions between the two countries.

"The hasty response from the Turkish side, especially as the aircraft was on its way back and was not charged with any combat missions, is proof of the true intentions of Erdogan's government toward Syria to increase tensions and escalate the situation on the border between the two countries," it said.

Turkey, one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's fiercest critics, has advocated military intervention in Syria and grown frustrated over what it sees as Western indecisiveness.

It shares a 900-kilometer (560-mile) border with Syria and is sheltering a quarter of the 2 million people who have fled the Syrian conflict.