Envoys from NATO member states will meet tomorrow after Turkey requested consultations over Syria's shooting down of one of its warplanes in what Ankara said occurred in "international airspace" on Friday, Reuters reported Sunday, citing a NATO spokeswoman.

"Turkey has requested consultations under Article 4 of NATO's founding Washington Treaty. Under Article 4, any ally can request consultations whenever, in the opinion of any of them, their territorial integrity, political independence or security is threatened," Oana Lungescu said.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the plane was shot down shortly after it had "momentarily violated Syrian airspace," but added that the unarmed plane, on a mission to test Turkey's radar defenses, had posed no threat to Syria at any time.

"The Syrians knew full well that it was a Turkish military plane and the nature of its mission," Davutoglu told Turkey's TRT television. "Nobody should dare put Turkey's (military) capabilities to the test."

Turkey has also issued a diplomatic note to Syria over the incident, TRT said without giving any further details.

Earlier a Syrian military spokesman told the official SANA news agency that the military spotted an "unidentified aerial target'' that was flying at a low altitude and at a high speed.

Ankara also acknowledged that it may have violated Syrian airspace, in comments seen as a bid to cool the latest spat between the former allies. But Turkey also said it "will announce its final position and take necessary steps with determination after the incident is entirely clarified."

Yin Gang, a senior researcher at the Institute of West Asian and African Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that Syria merely took "normal military practice" in shooting down the warplane.

"It's obvious that the Turkish plane was on patrol. Turkey should have known that the aircraft could have been easily spotted at a low altitude. Turkey and NATO have no grounds to take strong measures against Syria," Yin said.

Search teams have located the wreckage of the downed Turkish fighter jet. Both nations had reportedly searched for the two missing crew on the jet.

Davutoglu said search efforts were in coordination with the Syrians, but could not be described as a "joint" operation.

This latest escalation in tension between the two countries has overshadowed the already tense relationship between the two since the Syrian uprising, which began in March 2011.

Turkey shelters the rebel Free Syria Army and hosts 32,000 Syrian refugees at its southeastern border with Syria, some 50 kilometers from where the Turkish aircraft was shot down. But it denies providing arms for the insurgents. SANA said Syrian border forces had confronted "terrorists" who had crossed the Turkish frontier into the coastal province of Latakia and killed several of them Sunday.

"Turkey should cautiously deal with the situation in Syria. Once overall war breaks out in Syria, Arabs in Turkey won't be at ease. The armed rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party will also take the opportunity to cause a disturbance," Yin warned.

Agencies - Global Times