*ANKARA – Turkey’s air force on Sunday downed an unidentified drone on theSyrian border after it breached Turkish air space multiple times, thedefence ministry said.*
The drone, of unidentified nationality, detected near the border by themilitary intruded into Turkish airspace six times before it was shot downby war jets.
“An unmanned aerial vehicle which violated our air space six times (onSaturday)… was downed by two of our F-16s which took off from Incirlik” airbase in southern Turkey, the defence ministry said, sharing pictures of thedowned drone on its official Twitter account.
The ministry said the unknown aircraft was grounded at 1:24 pm (1024 GMT)local time, adding that: “The wreckage of the drone was found at theCildiroba base” by the Turkish gendarmerie in the Kilis province near theSyrian border
Turkey’s top national security council bringing together the country’scivilian and military leaders is due to meet on Monday led by PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdogan. The Syria issue expected to figure high on the agenda.
The Turkish air force shot down a Russian Su-24 aircraft in theTurkey-Syria border area in 2015, sparking an unprecedented crisis in thetwo countries’ relations.
That was condemned by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “stab in theback” but the two countries later reconciled and worked together on theSyrian crisis although they remain on opposite sides of the conflict.
Turkey backs rebels seeking the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad, whileMoscow is one of the few remaining allies of the regime in Damascus.
– Safe zone –
The Turkish military conducted two offensives in northern Syria against theIslamic State and Kurdish militia forces in 2016 and 2018.
The two NATO allies, Turkey and the United States, reached a deal lastmonth to establish a safe zone between the Turkish border and Syrian areaseast of the Euphrates river controlled by the Syrian Kurdish People’sProtection Units (YPG).
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The United States views the YPG as a close ally in the fight against theIslamic State (IS) group but Ankara says the YPG is a terrorist militialinked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged aninsurgency inside Turkey since 1984.
The PKK is blacklisted as a terrorist group by Ankara, the US and theEuropean Union.
Erdogan has repeatedly threatened to launch a cross-border offensiveagainst the YPG if the plans to realise a safe zone with Washington fail bythe end of this month despite the joint ground and aerial patrols.
– ‘Safe zone’ plan –
Erdogan planned to meet with US President Donald Trump on the margins ofthe annual UN General Assembly meeting in New York this week but abilateral meeting did not take place. The Turkish leader only attended areception given by Trump for the heads of state.
Erdogan has said up to three million Syrian refugees could be returned tothe safe zone — planned both to push Kurdish militia away from the borderand also to house Syrian refugees.
The country is already playing home to more than 3.6 million Syrianrefugees — the highest number in the world — and there have been signs of apublic backlash over their presence after eight long years of war in Syria.
Analysts however say the scheme for a safe zone planned to be 30 kilometresdeep and run 480 kilometres (300 miles) along the north of Syria isunrealistic as Washington is struggling to balance its ties with Ankara andthe Kurdish militia. -APP/AFP
