Turkey, Syria admit errors in jet incident

Turkey and Syria on Saturday pulled back from a possible confrontation over Syria’s downing of a Turkish fighter jet that had strayed across their common border into Syrian air space Friday.

As their respective navies searched for the two missing Turkish crew, both sides said Friday’s clash had been accidental.

A spokesman for the Syrian foreign ministry, Jihad Makdisi, said the military unit that shot down the Turkish F4 Phantom interceptor had not realized the aircraft was Turkish and added: “There was no enmity against Turkey.”

Earlier Saturday, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said the Turkish incursion into Syrian air space was not deliberate.

“It is routine for jet fighters to sometimes fly in and out over borders,” he said. “These are not ill-intentioned things, but happen beyond control due to the jets’ speed.”

It wasn’t clear how or whether Turkey would retaliate.

Gul said it was “not possible to cover over a thing like this,” and added: “whatever is necessary will be done.”

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said Friday night that after completing an investigation, Turkey would “decisively take the next steps.”

The F4, which a top Turkish official said was on a reconnaissance mission, had departed Erhac base in Malatya province to the northwest of the Syrian border Friday morning.

Shortly before noon, Turkish authorities lost contact with the aircraft as it was flying over Hatay, a Turkish border province.

The Syrian government said an “unidentified object” had approached Syrian territorial waters from the west at “a very low altitude and at high speed.”

Syrian anti-aircraft artillery fired at the jet when it was one kilometre off the Syrian coast, and it crashed eight kilometres off the coast.