Turkish
Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz has denied claims by Saudi Arabian news channel
Al Arabiya that two Turkish pilots thought to have perished when their jet was
shot down June 22 were actually murdered by Syrian intelligence, Anatolia news
agency reported.
Yılmaz
told the agency that the public should believe "every information given by
the Turkish Foreign Ministry" while stating "none of [the Al Arabiya
claims] were true."
"Public
offices may give missing information, but will never give wrong information,"
Yılmaz said. "Every piece of information given by the Turkish Foreign
Ministry and the Chief of General Staff is true."
Yılmaz
said authorities would soon release statements on the matter.
The
pilots are believed to have died when Syria shot down their jet in the eastern
Mediterranean, but Al Arabiya released what was claimed to be official Syrian
documents showing that the pilots were rescued, interrogated and murdered on
Russian instruction before their bodies were planted next to their aircraft.
