UNITED NATIONS
Turkey's Permanent Representative at the United Nations (UN), Ambassador Ertugrul Apakan, on Monday submitted a letter to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the Term President of the UN Security Council Chinese Ambassador Li Baodong about a Turkish military jet that was downed by Syria on Friday.
On June 22, Syria downed a Turkish RF-4 type military jet as it was flying alone and without weapons 13 miles off the coast of Syria. Such an attack constitutes serious threat to regional peace and security. I wanted to convey this serious incident to the UN, Ambassador Apakan said in his letter.
Stressing the exact coordinates of the Turkish military jet, Apakan underlined in his letter that the jet did not display any hostile act and kept its identity open.
Our jet was shot down by Syria without making any warning. Receiving a deadly blow, the jet fell on to the sea some 8 miles off the coast of Latakia, Apakan noted.
All radar and wireless records of Turkey and Syria point out to the fact that our jet was hit while it was in international air space, Apakan stated.
A Turkish CASA plane received harassment fire from Syrian forces while it was conducting a search and rescue operation after the RF-4 jet was downed on June 22, Apakan stressed in his letter.
Turkey is now mainly focused on the search and rescue operation, Apakan indicated.
Once all the realities have been detected, a decision will be taken against Syria's act, Apakan noted.
This Syrian act, which resulted in two Turkish pilots' missing, is an hostile act against Turkey's national security. We strongly condemn this attack, Apakan also said in his letter.
