Error occured during this request! Please try again later.
Turkey
The Turkish defense ministry shared images of an unidentified unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), purportedly shot down on the Turkey-Syria border on September 28. Photo: Turkish defense ministry / Twitter
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkey’s defense ministry claimed late Sunday that its air forces had brought down an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) on its shared border with Syria on Saturday afternoon. Where the drone came from remains unclear.
“A UAV – whose nationality and type could not be verified – violated Turkish airspace six times on September 28, 2019 in the Operation Euphrates Shield area [of Syria] and west of Kilis [province in Turkey],” read a statement from the Turkish defense ministry.
Operation Euphrates Shield was launched by the Turkish Army and its Syrian proxies in August 2016 against the Islamic State group (ISIS) in northern Syria, which brought several cities including Jarabulus and al-Bab into Ankara’s orbit.
The operation, which ended in March 2017, was also designed to prevent the advance of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
“Two F-16 [jets] took off from Incirlik [air base] and hit it [the drone] at 13:24. The debris of the UAV was found by Kilis local jandermie members,” the ministry added.
Judging by photographs shared by the ministry, the drone was a fixed-wing model usually used for surveillance.
Turkey has previously accused the YPG of attempting to target Turkish territory with drones.
Turkish forces meanwhile have used drones to monitor the Kurdish armed group.
Similar technology is also used for reconnaissance by members of the US-led coalition, which have a small but significant presence in northern Syria in support of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fight against ISIS.
Mustafa Varank, Turkey’s industry and technology minister, shared a video on his Twitter account on Sunday purportedly showing a Turkish-made laser weapon which can take down drones.
The “Tubitak Bilgem” was designed and developed in Turkish factories, the minister said, adding it had “passed the acceptance test and been given to Turkish Armed Forces”.
The Syria-Turkey border is a sensitive diplomatic fault line. Turkey and the United States agreed in August to establish a so-called ‘safe zone’ in the area, where the NATO partners are conducting joint air and land patrols.
Turkey says it wants to turn the zone into a “peace corridor” in which to resettled two-three million Syrian refugees currently sheltered in Turkey.
Turkish officials have said several times they are not satisfied with the progress made on the project. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, warned he will take unilateral steps to establish the zone if the US does not act by the end of September.
Turkey regards the YPG as the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – designated a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies – and as a threat to its national security. The YPG denies any organic links with the PKK.
Turkey has sought to enforce its border security, signing an agreement with Russia to buy the S-400 missile defense system despite US concerns over the system’s incompatibility with NATO hardware.
Turkey has taken delivery of parts of the system, but it is not clear when it will be deployed. Washington has threatened to impose sanctions if it does.
Turkey is trying to nationalize its military technology. Speaking at a ceremony for the launch of the Kinaliada Corvette – the fourth ship of the MİLGEM (National Ship) Project – Erdogan said on Sunday their objective is to be fully dependent on Turkish-made defense systems by 2023.
“Today, we have five firms among the world’s top 100 defense companies. This number will, god-willing, increase constantly. Our goal is to entirely end our foreign dependency in defense industry by 2023,” he said.
“A UAV – whose nationality and type could not be verified – violated Turkish airspace six times on September 28, 2019 in the Operation Euphrates Shield area [of Syria] and west of Kilis [province in Turkey],” read a statement from the Turkish defense ministry.
Operation Euphrates Shield was launched by the Turkish Army and its Syrian proxies in August 2016 against the Islamic State group (ISIS) in northern Syria, which brought several cities including Jarabulus and al-Bab into Ankara’s orbit.
The operation, which ended in March 2017, was also designed to prevent the advance of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
“Two F-16 [jets] took off from Incirlik [air base] and hit it [the drone] at 13:24. The debris of the UAV was found by Kilis local jandermie members,” the ministry added.
Judging by photographs shared by the ministry, the drone was a fixed-wing model usually used for surveillance.
Turkey has previously accused the YPG of attempting to target Turkish territory with drones.
Turkish forces meanwhile have used drones to monitor the Kurdish armed group.
Similar technology is also used for reconnaissance by members of the US-led coalition, which have a small but significant presence in northern Syria in support of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fight against ISIS.
Mustafa Varank, Turkey’s industry and technology minister, shared a video on his Twitter account on Sunday purportedly showing a Turkish-made laser weapon which can take down drones.
The “Tubitak Bilgem” was designed and developed in Turkish factories, the minister said, adding it had “passed the acceptance test and been given to Turkish Armed Forces”.
The Syria-Turkey border is a sensitive diplomatic fault line. Turkey and the United States agreed in August to establish a so-called ‘safe zone’ in the area, where the NATO partners are conducting joint air and land patrols.
Turkey says it wants to turn the zone into a “peace corridor” in which to resettled two-three million Syrian refugees currently sheltered in Turkey.
Turkish officials have said several times they are not satisfied with the progress made on the project. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, warned he will take unilateral steps to establish the zone if the US does not act by the end of September.
Turkey regards the YPG as the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – designated a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies – and as a threat to its national security. The YPG denies any organic links with the PKK.
Turkey has sought to enforce its border security, signing an agreement with Russia to buy the S-400 missile defense system despite US concerns over the system’s incompatibility with NATO hardware.
Turkey has taken delivery of parts of the system, but it is not clear when it will be deployed. Washington has threatened to impose sanctions if it does.
Turkey is trying to nationalize its military technology. Speaking at a ceremony for the launch of the Kinaliada Corvette – the fourth ship of the MİLGEM (National Ship) Project – Erdogan said on Sunday their objective is to be fully dependent on Turkish-made defense systems by 2023.
“Today, we have five firms among the world’s top 100 defense companies. This number will, god-willing, increase constantly. Our goal is to entirely end our foreign dependency in defense industry by 2023,” he said.
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment