Dangerous Cargo from Moscow Syrian Jet Incident Ups Turkish-Russian Tensions

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http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/russian-plane-suspected-of-carrying-arms-for-syrian-regime-a-860709.html


On Wednesday night, Turkey forced this Syrian Air jet en route from Moscow to Damascus to land in Ankara. Turkish officials believe it may have been carrying military equipment bound for the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. An unnamed Russian official has denied the plane was carrying any military equipment.

The development must have come as a terrifying surprise for the 35 passengers and crew members. Their jet, a scheduled Syrian Air flight, had barely entered into Turkish airspace on a flight from Moscow to Damascus when it suddenly found itself flanked by two Turkish fighter jets. At 5:15 p.m. local time, Turkish officials forced the aircraft to land in Ankara.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu later declared Turkey had "received information this plane was carrying cargo of a nature that could not possibly be in compliance with the rules of civil aviation." It is believed that the plane was carrying a Russian delivery for Bashar Assad's military.
"We are determined to control weapons transfers to a regime that carries out such brutal massacres against civilians," Davutoglu said. "It is unacceptable that such a transfer is made using our airspace."

This may sound like a new version of the Cold War -- with NATO member Turkey on one side and Russian ally Syria on the other. And it can also be certain that Ankara only forced the plane to land after close contact with its Western allies. It is also likely that the information about "non civilian cargo" on board came from American intelligence.