Ankara: Jet not downed within Syria

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Soldiers carry the coffin of one of two pilots, Lieutenant Hasan Huseyin Aksoy, before a religious funeral in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, July 6, 2012.Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and top military commanders has joined hundreds of mourners at the funeral of two pilots whose jet was shot down by Syria two weeks ago. The somber ceremony took place at an air base in Malatya, from where the pilots' plane had originally taken off.(AP Photo/Bulent Kilic,Pool)

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has denied a media report claiming a Turkish military jet was downed within Syria territory.

All information given by the General Staff imparts the jet was downed in international waters, a Turkish Foreign Ministry official told the Hürriyet Daily News yesterday.

Responding to claims that some foreign countries have data which indicates the military jet was shot down in Syrian waters, the official said no such information had been handed to Ankara.

In a news report yesterday, daily Taraf claimed the F-4 military jet was shot down in Syrian waters according to data from a NATO Command in İzmir and a British military base in Greek Cyprus. Western sources also argued that the plane had been shot down in Syrian waters, according to daily Taraf.
Turkish jet downed on June 22 was definitely not shot down by anti-aircraft fire as suggested by Syrian officials, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) said early July, while also making clear once more that the jet was shot down by Syria.