Dozens of Syrian soldiers defect to Turkey

25 Jun 2012, 8:57 pm   -   Source: AP
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Dozens of members of Syria's military have defected to Turkey with their families, a Turkish official says.

Dozens of members of Syria's military have defected to Turkey with their families, a Turkish official says.

The state-run Anadolu news agency said 33 soldiers crossed into Turkey overnight.

There were three senior officers among the defectors, who totalled 224 people. Tension has risen between Turkey and Syria since the weekend when Syria shot down a Turkish military jet.

On Monday, Turkey's Energy Minister, Taner Yildiz, said his government could cut off electricity supplies to Syria. Turkish companies provide Syria with around 10 per cent of its electricity.

Yildiz said a decision on the issue could be announced on Tuesday by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is expected to tell parliament what retaliatory measures Turkey will take against Damascus for downing down the plane.

NATO-member Turkey said the plane had unintentionally strayed into Syria's airspace, but was in international airspace when it was brought down.

Turkey has insisted the jet was on a training flight to test the nation's radar capabilities and was not spying on Syria. Turkey has asked for a NATO meeting on the grounds that it believes its security is threatened.

A Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman said his country had "no hostility" toward Turkey. Jihad Makdissi said the Turkish plane violated Syrian airspace.

Makdissi said a search was still underway for two missing Turkish airmen who were on the plane.

Syria's 15-month-old uprising has destroyed once-strong ties between the countries.

Turkey is now one of the most outspoken critics of the Syrian regime. Anadolu said the group of defectors was placed in a refugee camp in Hatay, a province bordering

Syria but there was no further information. Turkey is hosting some 33,000 Syrian refugees.

Thousands of soldiers have abandoned the Syrian military, but most are low-level conscripts.

The Free Syria Army - the loosely linked group of rebel forces - is made up largely of defectors.

Syrian Crisis

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