Plane incident bitter fruit of AKP’s biased Syria policy: CHP

ANKARA

CHP deputy chair Faruk LoğoğluAA photo

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is picking the bitter fruit of its Syrian policy following a decision yesterday to ground a Syrian passenger flight to check for weapons, the main opposition has said.

“This incident is the latest bitter fruit of the wrong and biased Syria policy which the AKP government has been following. With this incident, an air dimension has been added to the already-tense relations between the two countries,” said Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy chair Faruk Loğoğlu, a retired ambassador and a former undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry.

The plane incident has displayed a “worrying and dangerous escalation full of unknowns,” he said.

Underlining that the inspection of the plane was carried out upon a tip-off – the source of which was not yet clear – Loğoğlu said they expected a more comprehensive statement concerning the issue from officials when the examination is completed.

Loğoğlu, however, said the political aspect of the issue was more important than its technical aspect amid questions of whether the inspection was conducted in line with the rules of international civil aviation.

“This development will also negatively effect our relations with Russia with which we already have an opposite approach [on Syria]” in addition to the problems it will cause with the Arab republic, he said.

“The forced landing of third countries’ [planes] which use Turkish airspace in a similar fashion may bring Turkey up against a lot of countries,” Loğoğlu said.