DAMASCUS, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- A Syrian state-run newspaper said Sunday that Turkey's grounding of a Syrian civilian plane last week was a "stupid and reckless" action.
"Regardless of their intents, what the Turkish authorities have recently done regarding the Syrian civilian plane has no other synonym in the international political dictionary but a stupid and reckless action," Tishreen daily, a mouthpiece of the Syrian government, editorialized Sunday.
The Turkish authorities forcefully grounded Wednesday a Syrian civilian plane en route from Moscow to Damascus, under the pretext that the plane carried "non-civilian cargo."
The Turks alleged that the Syrian flight carried Russian military gears destined for the Syrian ministry of defense.
Both Syria and Russia chided the Turkish move and dismissed the statement made by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyep Erdogan, who said Russian military gears destined for Syria were confiscated on the plane.
Syrian Information Ministry challenged Erdogan on Thursday, demanding the latter publicly display the confiscated gears to prove his claims.
Tishreen said Turkey's action amounts to a crime of "public piracy" according to international laws, adding that the move was not unexpected by the Syrian part due to the policy of " recklessness and aggression espoused by the Turkish government since a year and a half ago."
Tishreen noted that what happened has proven Turkey's siding with the countries that support terrorism and hinder any political solution, contending that the move has backfired on the Turkish government and its plans.
Syria goes through legal and legitimate channels to obtain its military needs to protect its sovereignty, and does not need to use a civilian plane to carry weapons, the paper said, adding that the Turkish government has proven its ability to foment problems with neighboring countries, which exceeds its ability to make peace in the region.
DAMASCUS, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Blasts and clashes continued in several Syrian hotspots on Saturday, as the tension between Syria and Turkey keeps gaining momentum.
At least nine people were killed Saturday when a car bomb blasted at a suburb of the capital Damascus, activists said, adding that a child and two women were among the killed. The blast that rocked al-Nabek also left 13 people injured. Full story
STANBUL, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said here Saturday that Ankara will do what is necessary if Syria again violates its border.
"We will do what needs to be done if our border is violated again," he told reporters while he had a bilateral meeting with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle on the Syrian crisis in Istanbul's Hilton Hotel. Full story
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