Arinc insists Turkish jet hit in international space

Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc yesterday told reporters in Ankara that speculations about the Turkish military jet which was shot downed by Syria last month aimed at increasing the tension between the two countries. "We have all the information at hand regarding the flight, including its route and altitude. These are all recorded. All these records point to the fact that our plane was not downed in Syrian airspace and was hit 13 miles off the Syrian coast," Arinc said. Arinc also warned reporters that they should ignore foreign disinformation, saying, "We should not allow speculation about where the plane crashed. We should respect the information provided by our General Staff and Foreign Ministry. We are confident about the authenticity of our sources." Arinc also reiterated that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has earlier said in an interview with the Cumhuriyet daily that it was hit by them. "Assad says that it was hit in Syria’s territorial waters or airspace. Our data show that these statements are not true. If Syria has information, documents or recordings of a third country, we are ready to compare them with our own information," Arinc added.