Syrian president regrets about Turkish aircraft destruction

Azerbaijan, Baku, July 3 / Trend A. Taghiyeva / Syrian president Bashar al-Assad regrets about the destruction of the Turkish aircraft. "Syrian armed forces thought that it was the Israeli military aircraft, rather than Turkish, but I have repeatedly said that I regret that the Turkish plane was shot down," Syrian President said in an interview with Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyyet today. "Earlier, Israeli planes used that air route three times, which was used by the Turkish aircraft," he said. "We have learned that the plane belongs to Turkey after it was shot down. I'm sorry about that." The President said that if the Turkish plane was shot down in international airspace, Syria would have apologized to the Turkish side. The President also stressed that Syria intends to normalize the relations with Turkey, however, the Turkish side's actions do not allow Damascus to take the concrete steps in this direction. Regarding the question whether the incident with the plane may lead to even greater conflict between Damascus and Ankara, the president said that the Turkish and Syrian people are friendly. So, this incident will not lead to military or other actions between the parties. Turkey has started transporting military equipment to the border with Syria since last Tuesday after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Bashar al-Assad's regime is a threat to the Turkish security. Erdogan's statement appeared after Syria said that it hit the Turkish aircraft over its territorial waters after it invaded its airspace. However, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that the plane was shot down in the international airspace and its fragments fell into the territorial waters of Syria. The Turkish reconnaissance aircraft RF-4E which took off on Friday from an Erhach airbase in Malatya province in south-eastern Turkey, disappeared from the radar screens at about noon local time in the Mediterranean Sea to the south-east of the province of Hatay bordering on Syria. Do you have any feedback? Contact our journalist at agency@trend.az