WASHINGTON
A spokesperson with US State Department has said the United States would continue to "stay in close touch" with Turkey after Syria downed a Turkish military plane last Friday in international airspace.
"NATO met today to hear Turkey's briefing on the incident and stood in strong solidarity with our ally, Turkey, particularly with regard to any further incidents, called the incident that happened unacceptable, condemned it in strongest terms, et cetera. So we will continue to stay in close touch with Turkey about its security concerns and stay solid as allies, as we always do," Victoria Nuland told a daily press briefing on Tuesday
Responding to a question whether Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's remarks over a new set of rules of military engagement for the Turkish army towards Syria was a concern for the US administration, Nuland said, "We understood those public statements refer to how Turkey would respond if its territory were incurred."
Responding to a question if the US was ready to extend arms assistance to Turkey for any possible aggression at the Turkish-Syrian border, Nuland said, "Turkey is our ally. As NATO said today and as the Secretary General said today, we're prepared to look at any request that Turkey wants to make."
