Friday, August 5, 2016

Erdogan cheated death when coup pilot chasing him ran out of fuel – state media

A Turkish F-16 fighter jet. © Murad Sezer
The rebel pilot of an F-16 that had the Turkish president’s plane in its sights failed to strike only because the fighter jet ran out of fuel and had to change route, thus saving Erdogan’s life during the coup attempt, the pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper claims.
The F-16 tracked Erdogan’s plane on its radar, but couldn’t approach close enough to fire as its fuel was reportedly running low, forcing the pilot to abort the mission, according to Yeni Safak. The reason why the F-16 didn’t fire had remained unknown until recently, with a former military officer familiar with the events cited by Reuters as saying it was “a mystery.”
“At least two F-16s harassed Erdogan’s plane while it was in the air and en route to Istanbul,” the officer noted.

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