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A SYRIAN PASSENGER plane was forced to land in Ankara this evening on suspicions that it was carrying weapons, Anatolia news agency reported citing officials.
“We received information that the plane’s cargo did not comply with rules of civil aviation,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was quoted as saying by the agency.
Davutoglu noted that international law would apply if weapons were found on the Syrian aircraft, without elaborating further.
The plane carrying 35 passengers was escorted by two Turkish jets to Ankara’s Esenboga Airport for security checks on its cargo by Turkish special operation units.
The A-320 plane was travelling from Moscow to Damascus when it was intercepted by Turkish authorities at around 1430 GMT, according to NTV news channel.
The search for weapons and ammunition is ongoing.
Ankara on Wednesday also warned Turkish airline companies against using Syrian airspace to avoid a possible retaliation from Damascus, NTV added.
After that warning, that a Turkish Airlines plane carrying Turkish pilgrims from the northwestern city of Bursa landed urgently in Adana city in the south, according to NTV.
The plane is waiting for Ankara’s green light to take off again for its destination in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Tensions between Turkey and Syria have been running high, with sporadic fire exchanges at the border since last Wednesday.
Last week, a Syrian shell hit a Turkish border town, killing five civilians – two women and three children.
The deadly incident triggered retaliation fire from Turkish artillery units at the border, which has been increasingly fortified by scores of anti-aircraft batteries and Howitzers since the shelling.
It also brought on a parliamentary mandate which is valid for one year and which allows the government to authorise cross-border operations in Syria, and to be used “if needed”.
The Turkish army also warned earlier Wednesday of a stronger response if Syrian shells continued to land on Turkish soil.
Ties between Ankara and Damascus have been dramatically strained since June, when a Turkish jet was brought down by Syrian fire, killing its two pilots onboard.
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A whole 168 people? Seems legit.
The way that this survey is misleading. It’s fairly impossible to initiate contact with somebody via email unless you know their address. It would trying to guess their mobile number. Facebook is similar to a directory so you have the advantage of looking them up. So of course Facebook will trump email on first contact.
Must people I know – and I’m not a student – don’t "email" on Facebook but will chat. Email is still a primary channel of communication.
Yes, 168 is far from a realistic sample size to start drawing conclusions and issuing statements.
No one in my year sends emails, most only have an email to be able to use Facebook/social networking sites. 95-100% of my year have a Facebook.
The expression “no shit sherlock” springs to mind
What is this “email” of which you speak?
Interesting. I would have thought that students would have been encouraged to have a linked in page set up in order for them to acquire employment.
Any one on Google yet?
I think what the survey is highlighting is what Brian mentioned above. If you look for someone on facebook you will most likely find them and have a profile photo to hopefully verify you have the correct person. Even if you preform a google search on a name, facebook results are usually within the top 5 links
The same can be said for Linkedin
have your say