Ref: Untuk melihat video footage, click situs di bawah ini :
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidesyria/2012/06/201262483740123476.html
Inside Syria Turkey-
Syria relations: Taking a nose dive?
As Syria shoots down a Turkish jet, we ask if the incident will escalate into
more violence between the two countries.
Inside Syria Last Modified: 24 Jun 2012 10:32
One day after a Syrian pilot defected to Jordan in a MiG-21 fighter jet, Syrian
air defence force said they have shot down a Turkish warplane flying into
Syrian airspace.
"The downing of the plane came as a result of the defection of a plane a
couple of days ago .... Syria would not dare open a front with Turkey. They
know very well that they are too weak to face Turkey, let alone NATO behind
Turkey .... A conflict between Turkey and Syria ... if it started ... the army
of the regime would not last a day or two in such confrontation."
- Bassam Imadi, a foreign relations committee member of the Syrian
National Council and a former Syrian ambassador to Sweden
Relations between Nato-member Turkey and Syria, once close allies, have
deteriorated sharply since the uprising against Syrian president Bashar
al-Assad began in March 2011.
Turkish president Abdullah Gul said the shooting down of the Turkish fighter
could not be ignored.
"Our investigation will focus on whether the plane was brought down within our
borders or not, because the consequences could be quite serious. There will be
no clear statement until the details of the incident are scrutinised."
Colonel Abdel Farid Zakaria, a senior officer in the Syrian army, who defected
to Turkey a few days ago has been speaking exclusively to Al Jazeera. He says
President Bashar al-Assad's forces are in disarray.
He also says more soldiers want to defect, but the international community
needs to help make this happen.
Since the uprising began in Syria, the country appears to have only maintained
good relations with its next door neighbour Iraq who has continued its support
throughout the fifteen-month uprising.
"It's very difficult to brush this one off, if Syria has shot down that
plane, and it seems as if according to the Turkish government they have, that
is an escalation, that is the public manifestation of a very private conflict
that has been going on between Turkey and the Syrian government ... for the
last few months."
- Andrew Tabler, a Syria-Lebanon expert and the author of In the Lion's
Den: An Eyewitness Account of Washington's Battle with Syria
And though officially Lebanon and Syria have enjoyed good relations, the
uprising in Syria is having a spillover effect - putting its neighbour in a
delicate position.
Meanwhile, Jordan and Syria have continued to benefit from nearly $500m of
bilateral trade despite the uprising. But last week a Syrian pilot landed his
military jet in neighbouring Jordan and defected - a move likely to carry a
political impact.
Turkey, however, openly supports Syrian rebels fighting to overthrow al-Assad.
And with relations already strained, Syria's admission that it shot down the
Turkish war plane will likely worsen ties further.
A comparison of Turkish and Syrian military power shows that Syria has 304,000
active military personnel, which is less than half of Turkey's 613,000.
And Turkey has around 1,940 aircrafts in total while Syria has 830. Moreover,
Turkey's land-based weaponry at an overwhelming capability of 69,770 items is
much stronger compared to Syria's 25,400 items.
As Syria admits shooting down a Turkish warplane, is the incident likely to
escalate into more violence between the two neighbours? And would the Syrian
opposition welcome such a conflict? Is it a clear message to NATO, given that
Turkey is a member of NATO, about the risks of outside military intervention?
Inside Syria, with presenter Stephen Cole, discusses with guests: Bassam Imadi,
a member of the foreign relations committee of the Syrian National Council and
a former Syrian ambassador to Sweden; Andrew Tabler, a fellow at the Washington
Institute for Near East Policy, a Syria-Lebanon expert, and the author of In
the Lion's Den: An Eyewitness Account of Washington's Battle with Syria; and
Pavel Felgenhauer, a defence analyst and a Columnist with Novaya Gazetta,
covering foreign policy issues.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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