Syrian missile may have exploded over Turkey: claim
AFP
Date: 05-28-05
ANKARA (AFP) - Objects found in a field near Turkey's border with Syria shortly after an explosion was heard in the sky may have come from a Syrian missile, the Turkish military said.
The general staff said in a statement that paramilitary troops were alerted by villagers in the Golbasi and Mahmutlu villages in the southern province of Hatay that objects had rained down on their fields on Friday after an aerial explosion.
The incident caused no injuries or material damage, it added.
"An investigation by military units in the region assessed that the parts in question could possibly belong to a missile originating from Syria," the statement said.
It was not immediately confirmed that the incident was due to a Syrian missile, or, if it was, why it would have been fired in such a way as to come down in Turkey.
The two countries share a long border, and Hatay, which is claimed by Syria, is at its western end.
The statement said Ankara was pursuing efforts on both diplomatic and military levels to determine the origin of the parts.
Turkey and Syria have greatly improved their stormy ties since 1998, when they came to the brink of war over accusations by Turkey that Damascus was sheltering separatist Kurdish militants fighting the Turkish government.
The crisis was resolved when Syria expelled Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan and signed a security deal with Turkey, pledging to stop supporting Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers' Party, better known as the PKK.
Despite the improved ties between the two countries, two sticking points remain: the waters of the Euphrates River, which has its source in Turkey, and the status of Hatay.
Source
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