At height of Turkish coup bid, rebel jets had Erdogan's plane in their sights

[jakeXT]

Source: Reuters

"At least two F-16s harassed Erdogan's plane while it was in the air and en route to Istanbul. They locked their radars on his plane and on two other F-16s protecting him," a former military officer with knowledge of the events told Reuters.

"Why they didn't fire is a mystery," he said.


...


Fighter jets taking off from another air base at Eskisehir, west of Ankara, were scrambled to bomb Akinci and try to stop the rebels. However, the rogue aircraft were able to keep flying through the night by refueling mid-air after a tanker plane was commandeered, the first senior official said.

The tanker aircraft was taken from the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey, which is used by the U.S.-led coalition to bomb Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. The commander of Incirlik was detained on Sunday for complicity, the official said.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-security-plot-insight-idUSKCN0ZX0Q9?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Social

[uawchild]

1. Holy Cow!

THAT is astonishing.

[Democat]

2. Is this true or some kind of propaganda?

Why wouldn't they have shot him down?

[cstanleytech]

3. I'm leaning towards propaganda

as it doesnt make any sense for them to lock on and then break off, not during a supposed coup.

[ansible]

4. Because the whole thing is a false flag

The whole coup stinks, especially with the way Erdogan reacted afterwards with the ongoing purge

[JCMach1]

5. You are correct... Erdogan is now dictator for life... or a 'REAL' coup

[ozone_man]

6. Sounds like Erdogan staged the coup

so he could clamp down on dissent.

[roamer65]

9. You da winna!

[lordcommander]

7. Bingo nt.

[AntiBank]

11. thread winner

[The Second Stone]

8. If you remove 2,700 judges within 24 hours

for being complicit, you've pretty much given up on innocent before proven guilty and had planned to do so. I'm not convinced there was a coup. I'm convinced Edrogan is a dictator.

[GulfCoast66]

10. Kick them out of NATO

I do not trust Putin at all, but Russia's military is a shadow of the USSR.

Tell Erdogan the next time he shoots down a Russian plane he is on his own.

If course the Turkish military is no slouch and I am not certain Russia would confront them. Especially since they need to use the Dardenelle straights.