![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/The-moment-the-Syrian-warplane-went-down.jpg\" "\\"The")
<\/a>The moment the Syrian Mig 23 went down. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n
The pilot of the Syrian jet shot down by a Turkish missile managed to bail out after his plane was hit and he rejects claims that he had infringed Turkey’s airspace.<\/h5>\nAccording to Iran’s Fars <\/span>News<\/span> <\/span><\/a>, <\/span>the pilot said that he was engaged in a mission against terrorists more than 7 kilometres from Syria’s border with Turkey. After arriving at his target\u2019s location and carrying out his mission, he turned to return to base when his aircraft was hit by a Turkish missile, forcing him to eject.<\/h5>\n<\/p>\n
Speaking from a hospital bed as he recovered from his injuries the pilot <\/span>vowed to return to those who <\/span>downed his aircraft<\/span><\/a>.<\/h5>\nAt the time Syrian forces were engaged in an operation to recapture a border post that was seized last Friday by foreign backed militants. The anti-Assad forces seized the Kasab crossing after reportedly infiltrating from Turkey.<\/h5>\nSyrian authorities have rejected claims that aircraft violated Turkish airspace, saying two of its Mig 23 had been engaged in operations against militants in Syria when one was hit by a Turkish missile.<\/h5>\n“In another flagrant aggression that proves the involvement of the Turkish government in supporting the armed terrorist groups, the Turkish air defenses have downed a Syrian war jet, which was haunting down terrorist gangs inside the Syrian territories in the border town of Kasab,” the Syrian army said in a statement on Sunday.<\/h5>\nThe Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said initial reports from the area indicated that the plane came down on the Syrian side of the border.<\/span> <\/span><\/h5>\nHowever, for his part Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan remains defiant. Speaking at an election rally on Sunday night he told supporters:<\/h5>\n\u2018Our F-16s took off and hit this plane. Why? Because if you violate my airspace, our slap after this will be hard.\u2019<\/h5>\nHe added: \u2018I congratulate the chief of general staff, the armed forces and those honourable pilots… I congratulate our air forces.\u2019<\/h5>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Syrian-warplane-goes-down-300x249.jpg\" "\\"Syrian")
<\/a>The downing of the Syrian Mig 23 couldn’t have come at a better time for Erdogan’s election campaign; enabling him to stir national pride and jingoism and exploit them to full advantage. <\/span><\/h5>\nRaising more questions is the fact that a Turkish TV news crew was in the vicinity when the incident occurred.<\/h5>\nThe Turkish news channel Habert\u00fcrk was in the middle of a live TV broadcast when a reporter heard the artillery fire over the hills nearby. As the reporter turned, the camera scanned the area and in the background a black cloud of smoke can be seen rising from the Mig 23’s crash site.<\/h5>\nWas it a fortuitous coincidence that they were able to capture the event on live TV?<\/h5>\nOr had they been tipped off beforehand that something newsworthy and dramatic might happen in the area? Have Turkish authorities conspired to set-up the event, complete with news crews filming live, to help boost Prime Minister Erdogan’s chances of re-election?<\/h5>\n
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