Turkey intercepts Syrian Air passenger jet on illegal cargo suspicion; Syria bans Turkish flights over its airspace; Turkey heightens border security; Turkish PM Erdogan rebukes UNSC over Syria inaction
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    • TURKEY

    Reports noted that Turkey intercepted a Syrian passenger jet that was en route to Damascus from Moscow on suspicion of carrying illegal cargo. Two Turkish military jets forced the Syrian Air Airbus, which was carrying 35 passengers to land after receiving intelligence that its cargo did not comply with civil aviation rules. The aircraft was grounded for nine hours before it was allowed to continue on to Damascus after Turkey claimed it had confiscated the “objectionable” cargo. Syria called the interception “hostile and reprehensible” and demanded that the seized cargo be returned. The incident has infuriated Russia that has said Turkey put passengers’ lives at risk and denied the aircraft was carrying weapons or other military equipment. 1 Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan later announced that the cargo consisted of Russian-made munitions destined for Syrian armed forces, 2 while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the aircraft was carrying radar equipment that is not forbidden by international conventions. 3 Syria has banned all Turkish flights over its airspace in retaliation against the incident. 4

    In another development, according to reports, Turkey has heightened security along its border with Syria following the bombing of a Syrian border town by Syrian government forces. Fighting along the border has spilled over into Turkish territory over the past few weeks, with the Turkish army responding to gunfire and shelling from Syria. 5

    In other developments, according to reports, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has rebuked the UN Security Council (UNSC) for failing to act to end the violence in Syria and said that world powers were repeating mistakes that led to the Bosnian massacres in the 1990s. Erdogan said that the inaction has encouraged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to continue killing thousands of people daily. The UNSC has been divided between Western powers on one side, and Russia and China on the other. Turkish officials had been hopeful of convincing Russian officials to soften its opposition at the UNSC before relations between the two sank to a new low last week over the grounding of the Syrian passenger jet in Ankara. 6

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