Turkey Stops, Searches Iranian Plane
VOA News March 16, 2011
Turkish officials say government forces forced a cargo plane from Iran to land in Turkey so that its contents could be searched.
The foreign ministry said the incident took place late Tuesday. Authorities said the Iranian plane was en route to Syria when Turkey ordered it to land at an airport in the southern city of Diyarbakir. Investigators have not said what cargo they found on the plane, nor did they say if military force was needed.
The incident came after Israel announced it had seized a cargo ship that it believed was smuggling weapons from Iran to Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. Israeli officials said the vessel had set sail from Syria and stopped in Turkey before it was intercepted in the Mediterranean.
Iranian state media reports quote the commander of Iran's army, Major-General Ataollah Salehi, on Wednesday as calling Israel's assertion that Tehran was responsible for the weapons shipment "fabrications." The commander accused Israel of "making lies."
Some information for this report was provided by AP.
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