Turkey warns UN over Syrian 'threat to security'

Turkey has warned the UN Security Council that Syria's shooting down of a Turkish military plane represents a "serious threat" to regional security.

Turkey's deputy prime minister also said Syria's actions "would not go unpunished", but made it clear it was not seeking military action.

The comments come as Nato's governing body prepares to hold an emergency meeting to discuss Friday's incident.

Damascus insists the F-4 jet was shot down inside Syrian airspace.

In a letter to the Security Council, Turkey condemned the "hostile act by the Syrian authorities against Turkey's national security".

It said it posed "a serious threat to peace and security in the region".

The BBC's Barbara Plett at the UN says the letter does not ask the council to take any action.

Unknown intruder

Turkey, a Nato member, has requested a meeting of Nato representatives in Brussels and said it would press the alliance to consider the incident as an attack on the whole military alliance.

Following Friday's incident, Turkey invoked Article 4 of Nato's founding treaty which entitles any member state to request consultations if it believes its security is threatened.

A Nato official quoted by AP news agency said Turkey's Nato envoy would inform other ambassadors of the details of the incident at Monday's meeting.

The envoys are then expected to discuss Turkey's concerns but not decide on anything specific, said the official.

The North Atlantic Council - which consists of ambassadors from all 28 Nato countries - works by consensus and all members must approve any action.

Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc, speaking after an emergency cabinet meeting on Monday, called the shooting down of the jet "a hostile act of the highest order".

He vowed that Syria would "not go unpunished" but added that Turkey had "no intention" of going to war.

Tensions between Syria and Turkey rose even higher on Monday when Turkey accused its neighbour of firing on another of its planes.

Mr Arinc said the CASA search and rescue plane - which had been looking for the F-4 Phantom jet - was not brought down.

He said the Syrians stopped firing after a warning from the Turkish side.

Ankara has said the jet strayed into Syrian airspace by mistake last Friday but was quickly warned to change course by Turkish authorities and was one mile (1.6km) inside international airspace when it was shot down.

Syria said it was unaware that the plane belonged to Turkey and had been protecting its air space against an unknown intruder.

Turkey has criticised the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which it accuses of brutally putting down opposition protests.

Thousands of Syrian refugees are living in camps just over the Turkish side of the border.