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'Four beaten when masked men boarded Syria-bound plane' - attendant

published by Tom Sullivan on Thu, 2012-10-11 09:31

Humiliation, threats and brutal beatings - that's how some of those on board a Syria-bound plane describe the welcome they received in Turkey. F-16 fighter jets were scrambled to ground the Moscow - Damascus flight. It was carrying over thirty passengers, including small children.

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Tags: 
TURKEY
SYRIA
RUSSIA
WAR

Comments

Submitted by Heydrich on Thu, 2012-10-11 15:00.

There will be repercussions. Turkey relies on Iran and Russia for almost all its natural gas.

Perhaps jets flying between Russia and Syria could use the Kurdish airspace over northern Iraq. If Turkish fighter jets try to intercept a plane outside Turkish airspace, it could be seen as an act of war. Perhaps that will be Erdogan's next move. 

Despite the NATO treaty, I do not think that Turkey can draw the West into any war that the West does not care to engage in.  I think that the West regards Erdogan as a fool, and will do whatever the West decides to do, regardless of the NATO treaty.

Submitted by Tom Sullivan on Thu, 2012-10-11 20:41.

Perhaps jets flying between Russia and Syria could use the Kurdish airspace over northern Iraq.

They would need to transit Azerbaijan, adding 600km or more to the journey and a lot of extra fuel.

If Turkish fighter jets try to intercept a plane outside Turkish airspace, it could be seen as an act of war. Perhaps that will be Erdogan's next move. 

It is already a violation of aviation regulations. If he chooses to go after Syrian aircraft outside of Turkish airspace, the excrement will hit the rotary oscillator. The Turkish foreign minister has already said that they would also force more Syrian passenger aircraft to land. As aircraft are the sovereign territory of the nation in which they are registered, this is a declaration of war by any other name.

This entire story stinks like a day old Turkish kebab. If Russia wanted to supply weaponry to Syria, the way to do it would be to use military transport and to transit the airspace of friendly or neutral nations as much as possible. It just does not make sense that Russia and/or Syria would employ the holds of civilian aircraft to do a job that would be much more efficiently done using military aircraft.

Listening to people here, it appears the narrative has been swallowed without question. The number of times I've heard "but they were smuggling weapons" is infuriating. My answer is that it is most likely a complete fabrication, but even if it isn't, so what? The West and Israhell are supplying weaponry to a Syrian opposition that isn't even Syrian. They are supplying logistical support to a rag-tag bunch of non-Syrian mercenaries many of whom are the sort of crazy fundamentalists the West claims it is at war with. They are deliberately trying to undermine a nation and have the chutzpah to bitch and moan when the Syrian administration takes steps to prevent this from happening.

Submitted by Heydrich on Fri, 2012-10-12 01:34.

Damn. You’re right. Good observation. I doubt that Russian planes can use Azerbaijani airspace, since Azerbaijan crawls with Israelis, and is allied with the NATO-GCC-Israeli alliance, as are Georgia and Bulgaria. Armenia is locked between Turkey, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. So if Syrian jets want to use Kurdish airspace in northern Iraq, they will have to fly down the middle of the Caspian Sea to Iran, then turn west to Iraq, which is far out of the way. If we look at a map, we see that Turkey has effectively cut off passenger jet travel between Russia and Syria. And if Syrian planes cannot use Iraqi airspace, then no Syrian plane can fly between Syria and Russia.

As aircraft are the sovereign territory of the nation in which they are registered, this is a declaration of war by any other name.

Well, as I said before, the USA does not let any aircraft pass through its airspace, however briefly, if any passenger, however ordinary, is on a U.S. blacklist. Latinos routinely get on a U.S. blacklist by displeasing someone in a pro-U.S. government (e.g. Peru, Paraguay, Chile, Columbia). The Latin government calls the USA and has that person’s name put on a black list. Then the person can only take flights that do not transit U.S. airspace. So if he or she wants to go to Europe, then it becomes necessary to go by way of Africa.

The thing about Turkey is that it had an agreement that Syrians jetliners could use Turkish airspace. Erdogan broke that agreement. Worse, according to international agreements, a government must first ask the pilot to land for inspection. Only if the pilot refuses are fighter jets sent out. In Turkey’s case there was no such request. The fighters suddenly showed up without warning. (Or so say Syria and Russia. Turkey denies this) Syrian Transportation Minister Mohammad Ibrahim Said called it piracy.

As for the hypocrisy of Turkey claiming that Russia is supplying weapons to the Syrian government, this is pathetic, as is the average Westerner’s support for Turkish lies and belligerence. Of course, this is mainly Erdogan and his idiot foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu. The Turkish people evidently do not support this nonsense.

But I say again that there will be repercussions. I’m confident that Russia is studying ways to quietly punish Erdogan. What if Erdogan extends his piracy to Russian aircraft? Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said Russia was concerned that "the lives and safety of the passengers, among whom were 17 Russian citizens, had been endangered." He said Turkey without explanation denied Russian consular officials and a doctor access to the passengers, who were handcuffed and kept in a room for hours without food. Lukashevich said the Turkish authorities failed to inform the Russian Embassy in Ankara that there were Russian citizens on board.

Vladimir Putin had been expected to visit Turkey at the start of next week, but cancelled his visit, citing a “heavy work schedule.”

Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency quoted an official at the Russian Embassy in Ankara as saying that the cargo "was not of Russian origin." Rosoboronexport, which handles most of Russia's military export contracts, said none of its cargo was on the plane.

Meanwhile Syria stopped buying electricity from Turkish suppliers a week ago. Turkish companies supply around 2.3 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year, or some 18-20 percent of Syria's needs, but Assad probably figured that Erdogan would cut it off anyway.

The Turkish foreign minister said that they would also force more Syrian passenger aircraft to land. On Monday, the Turkish military had moved 25 F-16 jets to a military base in the southern city of Diyarbakir, around 100 kilometers from the Syrian border.

It’s pathetic, isn’t it? Like I said before, international affairs are as much about ego and vanity as anything else. 

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