Parliament President Martin Schulz went on an official visit to to Ankara on 1 September where he met President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and İsmail Kahraman, the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

“The European Parliament remains a committed supporter in advancing and deepening EU-Turkey relations,” said Schulz. He also paid tribute to “all the Turkish citizens who courageously took to the streets to defend democracy in the country” and called for the political dialogue to be set on the right footing once again: “We need to talk to each other rather than at each other.”

In a media briefing afterwards, the Parliament President said: “Essentially we largely agreed on the necessity to openly discuss our different point of views in order to develop common views from this open dialogue that bring us closer to each other again.”

On 30 August the foreign affairs committee discussed the results of the fact-finding mission to Ankara on 23- 25 of August.

MEPs expressed their concerns about the Turkish government response to the attempted coup. Thousands of people – including soldiers, judges and journalists – have been detained for questioning while some of them have also lost their job. Committee chair Elmar Brok, a German member of the EPP group, said: “Even before the coup d’état in Turkey, developments as regards the freedom of opinion were not acceptable and took Turkey farther away from EU.”

MEPs, including Dutch S&D member Kati Piri who wrote a progress report on Turkey’s efforts to become an EU member, agreed that that the attempted coup was an attack on Turkish democracy. However, they stressed that the way the country is handling the aftermath of the coup is a crucial test for the country´s democracy, especially when it comes to respecting human rights and the rule of law. MEPs also said that Turkey must meet all criteria in order to have visa restrictions lifted.

Photo: Official visit of President of the European Parliament to the Republic of Turkey.

According to Turkish daily Hurriyet, Samaras and Erdogan had already discussed about the stalled plans for the construction of a mosque in Athens in a 40-minute summit in Doha, Qatar, a few weeks earlier. Erdogan had then announced that he had offered Turkish help for the building of the house of worship, while adding that Samaras was “warm” to the idea, Hurriyet reported.

However, in Athens, Deputy Foreign Minister Costas Tsiaras has noted in Parliament that the building of the mosque would be done entirely by using the country’s own financial resources.

The issue has been a source of tension and a debate as the Greek government has faced strong criticism for its long indifference to the demands of the country’s Muslims to build a mosque in Athens.

Commenting on the subject Naim el Ghandour, President of the Muslim Association of Greece told Alyunaniya.com: “The Turkish Prime minister is a Muslim worshipper who wants to have a mosque in a country he visits just like any other worshipper. It is something logical. Greeks also built Greek Orthodox churches wherever they go. I know that better than anyone because I am from Egypt. Every major city in Egypt has a orthodox church and cemetery.”

He added: “The Greek government has given the ‘go ahead’ for the construction of a mosque for Muslims in Greece but this is never realized, because it simply fears losing votes from the far-right.”

Last September Parliament voted in favor of the construction of an Athens mosque without minarets. The plan calls for renovating an existing state building –on a disused navy base– in the industrial district of Votanikos near the center of Athens, according to Kathimerini. The plan commits the Greek government (Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs) to pay for the construction of a temporary mosque until the works are concluded.

“If the Greek government doesn’t built a mosque for Greek Muslims then we will have to take the matter in our hands and look for foreign sponsors from countries like Qatar or Saudi Arabia to buy land and get a license to build an official place for worship. The constitution does not prohibit something like that as it guarantees freedom of worship,” Naim el Ghandour said. “But we don’t want it that way, this will be a Greek mosque for Greek Muslims,” he added.

The Greek capital is the only European capital that does not have an official place of worship for its 700,000 Muslim population.

Samaras will be received by Turkish President Abdullah Gul shortly after his arrival, to be followed by a private meeting with Erdogan. The Cooperation Council will be held at noon, followed by an agreement signing ceremony and statements by Samaras.

Samaras will afterwards address (1:15 p.m.) the Business Forum, in which 100 Greek and 200 Turkish enterprises will participate.

The Greek Prime Minister will further be received by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in the early afternoon.

A large business mission will also accompany Samaras, the members of which will attend the Business Forum being organised by the Federation of Greek Industries’ (SEV), the Greece-Turkey Business Council and Turkey’s Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK).

Cooperation with Greece “is a strategic one, and we would like to ascribe to it a different dimension. That is, Greece-Turkey bilateral relations from now on should not be based on gossip,” Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an interview with NET state television. Referring to the context of negotiations with the Greek Premier, Erdogan noted: “In our negotiations with the Greek government we will assess at what point our bilateral relations are, and we will have the opportunity to discuss how to move forward in the future…We have a loaded agenda and we will continue our work from 11.00 in the morning until the evening…Of course, we will examine a number of issues, including tourism, energy, telecoms, the direction towards which we drive bilateral political relations as well as NATO issues, as we are two NATO member countries and we should discuss the steps to take in this capacity.”

The reinforcements, which have been massing over the past two days, “have moved on the Salaheddin district, where the largest number of rebel fighters are based,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, according to Al Jazeera.

“The fiercest clashes of the uprising are taking place in several neighborhoods of the city,” the head of the Britain-based watchdog, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP.

Rebels in Aleppo, have been stockpiling ammunition and medical supplies in preparation.

Meanwhile, The United States said it feared a massacre in Aleppo after President Bashar al-Assad’s forces launched ground and air bombardments in preparation for a major onslaught against rebels in Syria’s commercial capital.

Even though the United States showed heightened concern over then in Aleppo on Friday, it rejected comparisons to a Libyan crackdown that triggered international intervention.

“We are very concerned about the situation in Aleppo,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said, condemning President Bashar al-Assad’s assault on civilians.

Ms. Pillay, the UN human rights chief also expressed particular concern about the likelihood of an imminent major confrontation in Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city after the capital, Damascus.

Bernard Valero, a French foreign ministry spokesman, said yesterday that, “With the build-up of heavy weapons around Aleppo, Assad is preparing to carry out a fresh slaughter of his own people.

Al-Assad, meanwhile, is in the final preparations to launch a massive assault on Aleppo, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on friday. “The regime is getting ready to mount an attack on central Aleppo with tanks and helicopters.” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that international organizations needed to take steps against Damascus amid Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s suggestion that scenarios for a post-Baathist era were now on everyone’s table, according to Hurriyet daily.

Pilot Cpt. Gokhan Ertan and pilot Lt. Hasan Huseyin Aksoy had been missing since their F-4 jet plane was shot down by Syria on June 22.

Search and rescue personnel were moving the bodies of the pilots from the sea bed onto a ship on the surface. The bodies were located at a depth of 1,260 meters, according to Hurriyet daily news.

Turkey has deployed military hardware along its southern border since Syria shot down the Turkish jet on June 22, escalating tensions between the two countries.

Syria says it shot down the Turkish jet in self-defense and that it was brought down in Syrian air space.

But Turkey says that although the jet had violated Syria’s airspace, it was in international airspace when it was shot down.

Erdogan said Syria shot down the unarmed plane in international airspace in a “hostile” act and without warning and vowed to act “decisively”.

Meanwhile, Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has accused Turkey of giving logistical support to Syrian “terrorists” and told Ankara to stop interfering in his country’s affairs in a second part of an interview published on Wednesday.

Assad also accused the Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan of being “two-faced” for pursuing a sectarian agenda in the region and trying to persuade Syria to introduce political reforms while ignoring the killings and democratic shortfalls in different Arab states.

There are  more than 35,000 Syrian refugees living in camps in Turkey along the Syrian borders since violence erupted in the country.

Cumhuriyet newspaper quoted Assad as saying: “We learned that it (the plane) belonged to Turkey after shooting it down. I say 100 percent ‘if only we had not shot it down’.

“The plane was flying in an air corridor used three times in the past by the Israeli airforce,” he told Cumhuriyet in an interview published on Tuesday.

“Of course I might have been happy if this had been an Israeli plane,” Assad said.

He added that “We will not allow (the tensions) to turn into open combat between the two countries.

He also said Syria had not amassed and would not amass military forces along the Turkish border, whatever action Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan’s government takes.

Turkey hasdeployed military hardware along its southern border since Syria shot down the Turkish jet on June 22, escalating tensions between the two countries.

Syria says it shot down the Turkish jet in self-defense and that it was brought down in Syrian air space.

But Turkey says that although the jet had violated Syria’s airspace, it was in international airspace when it was shot down.

Erdogan said Syria shot down the unarmed plane in international airspace in a “hostile” act and without warning.

Assad sent his condolences to the families of the two pilots of the downed plane, who have not been found.

“If this plane had been shot down in international airspace (as maintained by Ankara) we would not have hesitated to apologise,” he said.

“We consider this act to be unacceptable and condemn it in the strongest terms. It is another example of the Syrian authorities’ disregard for international norms, peace and security, and human life,” Rasmussen said.

The North Atlantic Council met on Tuesday at Turkey’s request to hold consultations within the framework of Article 4 of the Washington Treaty which states that “the Parties will consult whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence, or security of any of the Parties is threatened.”

The North Atlantic Council discussed the shooting down of a Turkish aircraft by Syria.

“Our thoughts at this difficult time are with the missing Turkish aircrew, their families and their loved ones,” Rasmussen added in a statement.

Meanwhile, President Abdullah Gul said today the shooting down of an unarmed Turkish plane by Syria shows the level of paranoia that has gripped the country’s armed forces, according to Hurriyet daily news. 

Gül spoke during the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) summit in Istanbul, where he said Turkey would not tolerate the downing of its plane by Syria.

Syria shot down a Turkish military jet on June 22, escalating tensions between the two countries.

On the other hand, Syria insists that the Turkish aircraft violated its airspace on Friday.

But Turkey says that although the  jet had violated  Syria’s airspace, it was in international airspace when it was shot down.

Erdogan said Syria shot down the unarmed plane in international airspace in a “hostile” act and without warning.

He said border violations in the region were not uncommon, and claimed that Syrian helicopters violated Turkish airspace five times recently, without Turkish response, according to Al Jazeera. 

A statement following a two-hour security meeting led by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the F4 warplane that went missing near Syria was downed by Syrian forces and that the two Turkish pilots remain missing, according to Hurriyet daily news. 

“In the light of the information gathered, it’s been understood that our aircraft was shot down by Syria,” said a government statement issue following a high-level security meeting late yesterday as Turkey has vowed to take the necessary steps once the incident is fully clarified.

The jet had lost radio contact with its base over the eastern Mediterranean near Syria’s Latakia, an army statement said earlier.

Meanwhile, a Syrian military spokesman in a statement released by State TV SANA confirmed the incident saying that “an unidentified aerial target violated Syrian airspace, coming from the west at a very low altitude and at high speed over territorial waters, so the Syrian anti-air defenses counteracted with anti-aircraft artillery, hitting it directly.”

The spokesman added that “the target turned out to be a Turkish military plane that entered Syrian airspace and was dealt with according to laws observed in such cases.”

A rescue operation for the two pilots of the F-4 plane was under way, the Anatolia state news agency said.

Turkey has sided with nations such as the US in saying that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should step down after he responded violently to pro-democracy protests inspired by popular upheavals elsewhere in the Arab world.

Turkey also has set up refugee camps on its border for more than 32,000 Syrians who have fled the fighting.

Ankara has previously hinted the possibility of setting up some kind of humanitarian corridor inside Syria, which would entail military intervention, but has said it would take no such action without UN Security Council approval.