“It is routine for jet fighters to sometimes fly in and out over [national] borders…when you consider their speed over the sea,” Turkey's state-run Anatolia News Agency quoted him as saying on Saturday. 

 

Gul made the remarks a day after Damascus confirmed that its military targeted a Turkish F-4 Phantom when it was flying over its “territorial waters” in the Mediterranean Sea. 

 

“These are not ill-intentioned things, but happen beyond control due to the jets' speed,” the Turkish president said. 

 

The president also said his country is in contact with Syrian officials over the issue, despite the fact that Ankara withdrew its diplomats from its embassy in Damascus in March. 

 

“We withdrew our envoy from Syria for security reasons. This does not mean that we have no contacts [with Damascus],” Gul added. 

 

Meanwhile, Syria military spokesman issued the following statement on Saturday: At 11:40 AM on 22/6/2012, an unidentified aerial target violated Syrian airspace, coming from the west at a very low altitude and at high speed over territorial waters, so the Syrian anti-air defenses counteracted with anti-aircraft artillery, hitting it directly as it was 1 kilometer away from land, causing it to crash into Syrian territorial waters west of Om al-Tuyour village in Lattakia province, 10 kilometers from the beach.

 

The spokesman added that the target turned out to be a Turkish military plane that entered Syrian airspace and was dealt with according to laws observed in such cases.

 

The spokesman also said that the two countries' naval forces' commands have established contact, and Syrian naval ships along with the Turkish side are searching for the two missing pilots.

 

Syria has stressed that it engaged the fighter in its own airspace “according to the laws that govern such situations.” 

 

The aircraft was downed in Syria’s territorial waters west of the village of Om al-Tuyour in the Lattakia province, 10 kilometers from the beach, Syrian military said on Friday. 

 

Ankara had earlier said that its military lost radar and radio contact with the jet over the Mediterranean after it took off from Erhac Airport in the eastern Turkish province of Malatya. 

 

The Turkish military provided no details about the mission of its downed jet, but the country’s media outlets said it had been on a reconnaissance flight. 

 

The outlets also say that the jet’s two pilots have been rescued, but other news agencies say they are still missing. 

 

(Source: Agencies)