Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Turkey says its military rules of engagement have changed after Syria shot down a Turkish plane that strayed into its territory. PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan told parliament that if Syrian troops approached Turkey's borders, they would be seen as a military threat. Meanwhile Nato has expressed its condemnation of Syria's attack as well as strong support for Turkey. Syria insists the F-4 Phantom jet was shot down inside Syrian airspace. The plane crashed into the eastern Mediterranean and its two pilots are missing. Activists from the Local Co-ordination Committees said 30 people were killed across Syria on Tuesday, including 15 in the capital's suburbs. Syrian state media said dozens of "terrorists" had been killed in the Damascus suburb of al-Hama. Continue reading the main story Turkish account Friday 22 June, early morning: F-4 leaves Erhac Nato airbase Flies over Hatay province (Turkey) 11:42 GMT: mistakenly enters Syrian airspace near Latakia at 200ft (61m) at 300 knots 11:47: leaves after Turkish radar operator warning - no Syrian warning 11:56: radio contact lost: hit 13 nautical miles from Syrian coast at 7,400ft by heat-seeking guided laser missile 11:58 crashes into the sea Mr Erdogan spoke of Turkey's "rage" at the decision to shoot down the F-4 Phantom on 22 June and described Syria as a "clear and present threat". "A short-term border violation can never be a pretext for an attack," he said. The Turkish jet was on a training flight, testing Turkey's radars in the eastern Mediterranean, he said. He made it clear that Turkey was adopting a "common sense" attitude, although that "shouldn't be perceived as a weakness". "Every military element approaching Turkey from the Syrian border and representing a security risk and danger will be assessed as a military threat and will be treated as a military target," he said. Turkey requested a meeting of the alliance's ambassadors in Brussels after invoking Article 4 of Nato's founding treaty, which entitles any member state to ask for consultations if it believes its security is threatened. In a statement, the alliance's 28 members said the shooting down of the plane was "unacceptable" and they stood together with Turkey "in the spirit of strong solidarity". Continue reading the main story Syrian account 11:40 GMT Friday: F-4 flew at 100m (330 ft) altitude, 1-2km (0.6m-1.2m) from Syrian coast Surprise meant no time to give warning Anti-aircraft gun shot it down in Syrian waters with fire of maximum range of 2.5km Radar-guided missile not deployed Tail wreckage shows it was hit by anti-aircraft fire Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said: "It is another example of the Syrian authorities' disregard for international norms. Nato allies will remain seized of developments." Earlier, in a letter to the UN Security Council, Turkey described the shooting down of its reconnaissance plane as a "hostile act" and "a serious threat to peace and security in the region". Ankara says the jet mistakenly strayed into Syrian airspace but was quickly warned to change course by Turkish authorities and was 1.6km inside international airspace when it was shot down. Syria said it was unaware that the plane belonged to Turkey and had been protecting its airspace. Turkey has also accused its neighbour of firing on a search and rescue plane looking for the F-4 Phantom jet, although it was not brought down. Relations between the two countries were already highly strained before the F-4 was shot down. Mr Erdogan has been outspoken in his condemnation of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose government he accuses of brutally putting down opposition protests. In Syria itself, opposition activists on Tuesday reported fierce fighting near Republican Guard positions in suburbs of Damascus. Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Nato considered the attack "unacceptable" There were clashes in Qadsaya and al-Hama, around 8km (5 miles) from the centre of the city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP news agency. The UK-based organisation also said security forces had entered the Barzeh area of Damascus. Syrian state TV said that as well as the "terrorists" killed in al-Hama, many others had been taken prisoner including some non-Syrian Arab nationals. The Observatory and the Free Syrian Army also said there had been reports of a military helicopter being shot down in Idlib, but gave no details. International media cannot report freely in Syria and it is impossible to verify the reports. Fighting was also reported in the old city of Homs where the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) last week tried unsuccessfully to arrange the evacuation of civilians trapped by the fighting. The ICRC said on Tuesday it was returning to the city for a fresh attempt. Alleged flightpath of downed Turkish F-4 Phantom 1. F-4 Phantom takes off from Erhac airbase, Turkey, at approximately 10:28 local time (07:28 GMT), on 22 June 2. Syria says the jet enters its airspace at 11:40 (08:40 GMT) 3. Turkish military loses contact with the plane at 11:58 (08:58 GMT), while it is over Hatay province 4. Syria says its air defences engaged aircraft about 1km (0.5 nautical miles) from the coast and that it crashed into the sea 10km (5 nautical miles) west of Om al-Tuyour. Turkey says the plane was 24km (13 nautical miles) from Syria, which under international law is considered international airspace


European authorities have unveiled their vision for the future, which gives them much greater powers.
It includes the creation of a European treasury, which would have powers over national budgets.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said it was "a defining moment for European integration".
The document, released ahead of Thursday's EU summit, said greater fiscal union could lead to common debt being issued by eurozone countries.
There would also be banking union, with a single European banking regulator and a unified deposit guarantee scheme.
The document was released by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and was drawn up with the presidents of the European Commission, the Eurogroup and the European Central Bank.

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It has generally been true that the European project has been driven forward when France and Germany are in step. They are not at the moment. There is a deep philosophical and political divide between them ”
Mr Van Rompuy said it was "not meant to be a final blueprint", but that he expected "to reach a common understanding amongst us on the way forward" at Thursday and Friday's summit.
Mr Barroso said the guiding principle was that "greater solidarity and greater responsibility must go hand in hand".
Proposals in the report included:
  • Limits on the amount of debt individual countries can take on
  • Annual national budgets can be vetoed if they are likely to mean a country exceeding its debt limits
  • The eurozone borrowing money collectively "could be explored"
  • A European treasury office to be set up to control a central budget and keep an eye on national ones
  • A single European banking regulator and a common scheme guaranteeing bank deposits
  • Common policies on employment regulations and levels of taxation
  • Joint decision-making with national parliaments to give it "democratic legitimacy".
Earlier, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble also called for there to be a European finance minister, with the power to veto national budgets as well as an elected president of Europe.
French, German, Spanish and Italian finance ministers are meeting on Tuesday to discuss closer union.
French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici has said Thursday's EU summit should, "lay the groundwork for the second phase of the euro".
Joint borrowing
Crisis jargon buster
Use the dropdown for easy-to-understand explanations of key financial terms:
Eurobond
A term increasingly used for the idea of a common, jointly-guaranteed bond of the eurozone governments. It has been mooted as a solution to the eurozone debt crisis, as it would prevent markets from differentiating between the creditworthiness of different government borrowers.
Confusingly and quite seperately, "Eurobond" also refers to a bond issued in any currency in the international markets.
Many governments outside the eurozone have called on it to issue eurobonds, which would be a way to allow countries that are currently unable to borrow money commercially to borrow at low interest rates.
But some countries, especially Germany, have resisted this step unless there is much closer fiscal union.
The reason for that is that eurobonds would have much the same effect as the original introduction of the euro, which is that they would allow many governments access to cheaper loans.
There is therefore concern that without European control over budgets, some countries would again take on unsustainable levels of debt.
One of the big changes under the new proposals is that while in the past eurozone members had to keep their budget deficits below a certain level, a European treasury will now be able to force them to make changes to their budgets to keep their deficits down.

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