This morning a Turkish Air Force F4 was reported to have been lost in the north eastern Mediterranean, and this afternoon it was reported that the two pilots had been located.
Now there is a storm of rumors going around the Turkish media that the F4 - which is reported to have gone down eight miles off the coast of Syria - was shot down by Syrian forces, and Turkish PM Erdoğan has returned to Ankara for an emergency meeting.
Reuters has reported that a Lebanese TV station has reported that Syrian security sources have told them that Syrian forces shot down the aircraft.
There are a few reports that PM Erdoğan has told reporters that Syria has expressed regret or apologized for the downed aircrart.
I have seen no public uproar and right now don’t expect any.
UPDATE (8:30 pm Turkish time - 1:30 pm New York time): Even though several Turkish and western media outlets have stated that the two airmen have been rescued, the Turkish media have begun to withdraw these reports and have started reporting that the airmen have not yet been rescued and might not have been located.
It is being reported now that about an hour ago PM Erdoğan made a statement that there was no new information about the pilots and that Turkish and Syrian Air and Naval forces were searching for them. PM Erdoğan is also reported to have stated that the F4 went down 8 miles off the coast Latakia, Syria in Syrian waters.
A followup diary on this can be found here.