Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has accused Turkey of interfering in Syrian affairs to provoke a coup, RIA Novosti reports.
Al-Assad said that settling the crisis over the jet shot down in Syria will only be resolved at Turkey’s will.
The crisis in relations between Turkey and Syria escalated after a Turkish RF-4E jet was shot down in Syria when flying from the Erhac base in the Malatya Province on June 22. Radars lost it 1.5 hours after the take off. Syria said that the jet was shot down for violating territorial waters. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that the plane was shot down in international aerospace, but its remains flew to Syrian territorial waters.
The Syrian leader said that he used to be friends with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He accused Turkey of supporting terrorists. Al-Assad reminded that rapprochement of Syria and Turkey started in 2000 during the reign of Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, before Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party won the elections.
