Fighters of the Turkish Air Force are conducting patrol flights along the Turkish-Iranian border amid tensions in the Middle East, Turkish media reported, quoted by BTA.
According to information cited by numerous Turkish media, including the website “Türkiye Today“, the newspaper “Yeni Şafak“ and the Haberler website, planes have been spotted flying at regular intervals along the border line in recent days by sources based in the town of Yuksekova in Hakkari district.
There has been no official statement from the authorities regarding the patrol flights in the border area, the media noted.
Shortly after 1:30 p.m. local time (12:30 p.m. Bulgarian time) on Wednesday, the Turkish Defense Ministry announced the interception of an Iranian ballistic missile that had headed for Turkish airspace after flying over the airspace of Iraq and Syria. In their statement on the incident, Turkish authorities did not specify whether the missile was fired towards Turkey or had deviated from its trajectory.
Shortly after the interception of the missile, a Turkish official, who requested anonymity, quoted by Agence France-Presse, stated that Turkey was not the target of the Iranian missile, which in his words “was aimed at a military base in Cyprus but deviated”.
Yesterday, the Iranian army denied having fired a missile at Turkey and said it respected its sovereignty.
At the same time, NATO spokesman Martin O’Donnell told Agence France-Presse that the Iranian ballistic missile shot down by Alliance forces was indeed aimed at Turkey, not a military base in Cyprus.