AL JAZEERA, FRANCE 24, HÜRRIYET (Turkey)
BRUSSELS – NATO is holding a special meeting in Brussels on Tuesday at Ankara’s request, after Syria shot down a Turkish warplane last week, an incident which Turkey has branded an “act of aggression.”
Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke for the first time about the incident Tuesday, saying the Turkish Armed Forces had changed its rules of engagement in the wake of the crisis: “The Turkish military will retaliate against border violations by Syria,” the Turkish daily newspaper Hürriyet reports.
According to France 24, The Turkish prime minister called the act a “cowardly attack”. In his speech, Erdogan said the Turkish plane was shot down in international air space and crashed into Syrian waters, adding that Syrian helicopters had violated Turkey’s airspace five times, but were peacefully warned to leave.
It is only the second time that NATO will convene under Article 4 of its charter, which provides for consultations when a member state feels its territorial integrity, political independence or security is under threat. The only other time was in 2003 to discuss the Iraq war, which was also at the request of Turkey, Al Jazeera reports.