Debris of Russian missile found in southeast Turkey

GAZİANTEP - Anadolu Agency

The debris of an object believed to belong to a Russian missile was found in the Nurdağı district of the southeastern province of Gaziantep.

Lokman Düzgün, the district governor of Nurdağı, said on July 16 that as soon as they were informed of the incident, they dispatched gendarmerie units to the scene.

“Technical teams will inspect the wreckage. We do not yet know what it is. We will learn after technical teams have finalized their work on the debris,” Düzgün added.

Süleyman Arslan, the head of the Hamidiye neighborhood of Nurdağı, said the villagers had found the debris in the forestland and informed him by telephone.

As soon as he received the information, he notified the office of the district governor and local gendarmerie forces, Arslan said.

“We believe it belonged to a rocket. Gendermarie forces secured the area. We are writing for the technical teams to arrive to carry out their inspections,” he added.

Quoting defense industry researcher Arda Mevlütoğlu, daily Vatan reported on July 18 that the debris was of a Russian "S-200 Angara" missile. "Russians brought these missiles to Quvayras air base in Aleppo in January 2016 to reinforce their air defense system. I believe that they could have fired this one against Israeli jets during their latest raid near Aleppo and it could have fallen in Turkey unintentionally," Mevlütoğlu added.

In the past, at the height of the Syrian civil war Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants fired rocket projectiles into Turkish territory. During Ankara’s military operation to remove the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) from Syria’s Afrin region rocket projectiles also fired from the Syrian side hit Turkish territory near the border, causing casualties.