ISTANBUL // Turkey's president said yesterday a Turkish military jet shot down by Syria over the Mediterranean Sea may have violated Syria's airspace.
"Given the speed with which jets fly over the sea, it is routine for them to cross over a border for a short distance," Abdullah Gul said in televised remarks. A flight path like that did not mean "hostile intent", he said.
Analysts said a full-blown military confrontation between the countries was unlikely, even though the incident may have been intended as a warning to Ankara and may have killed the two Turkish pilots.
Turkey's opposition called on Ankara to explain what a military surveillance plane was doing so close to Syria. One analyst pointed to speculation that the aircraft may have been on a mission to gather intelligence about military activities by Russia in the region.
In the second emergency meeting within 24 hours, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, gathered government ministers, military officers and intelligence officials in Ankara yesterday to discuss the search for the two missing pilots and an appropriate response.
The Turkish jet, a Phantom F-4, took off at 10.30am local time (11.30am UAE) on Friday from an airbase in Malatya in eastern Anatolia, the general staff in Ankara said. About one and a half hours later, as the jet was flying over the sea to the south-east of the Turkish province of Hatay, which borders Syria, controllers lost radio contact with the aircraft.
"It has been understood that our aircraft was brought down by Syria," said a statement posted on the prime ministry's website.
"Turkey will make its final position clear and take the necessary steps with determination once the incident is completely clarified," the statement said. According to Turkish media reports, the aircraft was an unarmed reconnaissance jet. Bulent Arinc, a deputy prime minister, told Turkish media yesterday that the jet was "not a war plane, but used for training and reconnaissance".
A Syrian spokesman told the country's official news agency Sana that the military had opened fire on an "unidentified target" that had entered its airspace, according to Agence France-Presse.
The aircraft was "coming from the west at a very low altitude and at high speed over territorial waters", the spokesman said. Fire from anti-aircraft batteries hit the plane as it was one kilometre away from land. The jet crashed about 10 kilometres off the coast of Latakia province, in Syrian waters, he said. It was only at that point that Syria realised the jet was Turkish.
A video on the website of the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet showed what the newspaper described as Syrians on a beach near the area where the jet came down. In the clip, sudden gunfire is heard and people point to an object on the horizon.
Following an incident in April, when Syrian troops fired across the border, killing two Syrian refugees and injuring two Turkish citizens, Mr Erdogan suggested that Turkey could ask its Nato allies for help. There was no indication yesterday that Turkey wants to get the alliance involved this time. Turkey, a former ally of Syria, has turned away from Damascus because of the government's repression of an uprising against Bashar Al Assad, the Syrian president.
Oytun Orhan, an analyst at the Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies (Orsam), a think tank in Ankara, said he did not expect Turkey to launch a broad military attack against Syria. "I don't think there will be a big revenge operation," Mr Orhan said. "Maybe a very limited show of strength."
Seda Altug, an expert on Syria at Istanbul's Bosphorus University, agreed. "Turkey will not use this incident as a pretext to go to war in Syria," she said. "I do not see this as the beginning of a war."
Mr Orhan said Turkey's response would depend on whether the Turkish jet had actually crossed into Syrian airspace, whether Syria would offer an apology and on how Turkey's western allies react. He said Ankara's stance would "become clear in the coming days".
Mr Orhan added he was surprised the Syrians shot down the Turkish jet without warning. "That is a hostile act," he said.
Syrian analysts said the decision to fire was intended as a warning for the international community, and to boost the morale of regime supporters domestically. Opposition groups have often speculated that Syria would not react to a no fly zone enforced by Nato, fearing it would trigger a strong military response.
That notion may now have been dispelled.
"This is a clear message from the Syrian regime to Nato and to Turkey that it is not afraid of them and that it has strong air defences and can and will use them if foreign air forces try to become involved," said a Syrian analyst.
In Turkey, Gultan Kisanak, a leader of the opposition Party for Peace and Democracy, Turkey's main Kurdish party, said the government had to tell the public why the aircraft was flying so close to Syria's border. "If it is unable to answer what the plane was doing there, what its mission was and why it violated the border, then we have a big problem," Ms Kisanak said, according to Turkish news reports.
Mr Orhan said the jet may have been on a spying mission. He said there had been reports in recent days saying that Russia had extended its military presence in the region where the jet went down. He also pointed to news reports, denied by Damascus, saying that Syria was planning joint war games with Iran, Russia and China that would include naval forces.
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Match info
Deccan Gladiators 87-8
Asif Khan 25, Dwayne Bravo 2-16
Maratha Arabians 89-2
Chadwick Walton 51 not out
Arabians won the final by eight wickets
Fixtures
50-over match
UAE v Lancashire, starts at 10am
Champion County match
MCC v Surrey, four-day match, starting on Sunday, March 24, play starts at 10am
Both matches are at ICC Academy, Dubai Sports City. Admission is free.
The%20specs
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Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
World Cup final
Who: France v Croatia
When: Sunday, July 15, 7pm (UAE)
TV: Game will be shown live on BeIN Sports for viewers in the Mena region
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
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Key 2013/14 UAE Motorsport dates
October 4: Round One of Rotax Max Challenge, Al Ain (karting)
October 1: 1 Round One of the inaugural UAE Desert Championship (rally)
November 1-3: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Formula One)
November 28-30: Dubai International Rally
January 9-11: 24Hrs of Dubai (Touring Cars / Endurance)
March 21: Round 11 of Rotax Max Challenge, Muscat, Oman (karting)
April 4-10: Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge (Endurance)
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovci
Pushkin Press
RESULTS
5pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
Winner: Samau Xmnsor, Abdul Aziz Al Balushi (jockey), Ibrahim Al Hadhrami (trainer)
5.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Ottoman, Szczepan Mazur, Abdallah Al Hammadi
6pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,800m
Winner: Sharkh, Patrick Cosgrave, Helal Al Alawi
6.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 85,000 (D) 1,800m
Winner: Yaraa, Fernando Jara, Majed Al Jahouri
7pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Maaly Al Reef, Bernardo Pinheiro, Abdallah Al Hammadi
7.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,000m
Winner: Jinjal, Fabrice Veron, Ahmed Al Shemaili
8pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,000m
Winner: Al Sail, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
2018 ICC World Twenty20 Asian Western Sub Regional Qualifier
Event info: The tournament in Kuwait this month is the first phase of the qualifying process for sides from Asia for the 2020 World T20 in Australia. The UAE must finish within the top three teams out of the six at the competition to advance to the Asia regional finals. Success at regional finals would mean progression to the World T20 Qualifier.
UAE’s fixtures: Fri Apr 20, UAE v Qatar; Sat Apr 21, UAE v Saudi Arabia; Mon Apr 23, UAE v Bahrain; Tue Apr 24, UAE v Maldives; Thu Apr 26, UAE v Kuwait
World T20 2020 Qualifying process:
- Sixteen teams will play at the World T20 in two years’ time.
- Australia have already qualified as hosts
- Nine places are available to the top nine ranked sides in the ICC’s T20i standings, not including Australia, on Dec 31, 2018.
- The final six teams will be decided by a 14-team World T20 Qualifier.
World T20 standings: 1 Pakistan; 2 Australia; 3 India; 4 New Zealand; 5 England; 6 South Africa; 7 West Indies; 8 Sri Lanka; 9 Afghanistan; 10 Bangladesh; 11 Scotland; 12 Zimbabwe; 13 UAE; 14 Netherlands; 15 Hong Kong; 16 Papua New Guinea; 17 Oman; 18 Ireland
RESULTS
2.15pm: Al Marwan Group Holding – Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (Dirt) 1,200m
Winner: SS Jalmod, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Ibrahim Al Hadhrami (trainer)
2.45pm: Sharjah Equine Hospital – Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,000m
Winner: Ghallieah, Sebastien Martino, Jean-Claude Pecout
3.15pm: Al Marwan Group Holding – Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: Inthar, Saif Al Balushi, Khalifa Al Neyadi
3.45pm: Al Ain Stud Emirates Breeders Trophy – Conditions (PA) Dh50,000 (D) 1,700m
Winner: MH Rahal, Richard Mullen, Elise Jeanne
4.25pm: Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan Cup – Prestige Handicap (PA) Dh100,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: JAP Aneed, Ray Dawson, Irfan Ellahi
4.45pm: Sharjah Equine Hospital – Handicap (TB) Dh40,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Edaraat, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi
SPECS
Nissan 370z Nismo
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Power: 363hp
Torque: 560Nm
Price: Dh184,500
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
