Babacan's remarks came at a joint press conference with his visiting Syrian counterpart, Walid al-Moallem, following Turkey's complaint to Israel over the weekend after the discovery of the unmarked fuel tanks near the border with Syria.
Syria had alleged on Thursday that Israeli aircraft entered its airspace and dropped munitions. In Ankara on Monday, Moallem branded the incident a "hostile act," with Israeli diplomats at the embassy in Ankara maintaining the silence kept by Israel since the incident occurred.
Warplanes sometimes drop extra fuel tanks to lighten the aircraft and make it easier to maneuver. Over the weekend, Turkish television broadcast pictures of what it said were Israeli fuel tanks found in the provinces of Hatay and Gaziantep near the Syrian border, though the tanks did not have any national markings. If accurate, the report would be the first concrete evidence that Israeli warplanes were in the area.
During their meeting Moallem told Babacan that "there was a clear violation of its airspace and that the Israeli planes dropped munitions on Syrian soil." Meanwhile Turkish diplomatic sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was too early to say whether there was a violation of Turkish airspace by the Israeli planes. Still, the same sources stressed that regardless of whether there was a violation of Turkish airspace by the Israeli planes, the whole incident was "sufficiently annoying and concerning" for the Turkish capital.
“Israel has stated that as soon as possible it will investigate this issue and give us information. This situation is unacceptable for Turkey,” Babacan said at the press conference with Moallem, underlining the importance Ankara attaches to respect among regional countries to each other’s national sovereignties. “All countries in the region must show respect to all countries’ sovereignty and carefully avoid acts that lead to tensions. Otherwise tensions would be fueled and peace and stability in the region might be harmed,” he said.
Ankara says it believes the fuel tanks found late Thursday near the border with Syria had been jettisoned by Israeli aircraft. The same day, Damascus accused Israel of bombing adjacent Syrian territory. As of Monday, when asked by Today’s Zaman whether Israel has been preparing a file for the explanation requested by the Turkish side, a senior diplomat at the Israeli Embassy in Ankara refused to comment on the incident.
“Israel has openly shown that it has no intention of making peace,” Moallem also said, while he explained that Syria has been seeking the international community’s pressure on Israel concerning the incident. Syrian officials also said that Damascus would react against Israel at the level of international bodies, without elaborating on these efforts.
Earlier upon his arrival in Ankara late on Sunday, Moallem said Syria was “prepared to defend [itself] against any attack that Israel may plan, but Syria’s basic priority is a comprehensive peace.”
The incident has raised questions about why Israel would want to heighten tensions with Syria, its enemy to the north. Experts have speculated that Israel might have been seeking information about long-range missiles pointed at Israel, testing Syrian air defense or trying out a possible air route to its archenemy, Iran.
Israel has close diplomatic ties with Turkey, one of the few Muslim countries with which it has relations and has been a key ally of the Jewish state since 1996 when the two countries signed a military cooperation deal. Israel and Turkey signed a military cooperation agreement in 1996, and Israel has since renovated hundreds of Turkey’s M60 tanks and dozens of combat aircraft. The two nations have also co-produced air-to-ground missiles. Turkey is one of four Muslim countries that have friendly ties with Israel. The others are Egypt, Jordan and Mauritania.
While in Ankara, Moallem also had talks with newly elected President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Moallem delivered a message of congratulations to Gül on behalf of President Bashar Assad regarding his election as president while he also congratulated Erdoğan over his success in July’s general elections.
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