Turkey says plane shot down by Syria was in international airspace Ahmet Davutoglu says the Turkish jet entered Syrian airspace but quickly left, and was then shot down without warning by Syrian forces Photograph: Adem Altan/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's foreign minister has said the fighter jet shot down by Syrian air defence forces on Friday was in international airspace when it was hit. Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey would formally present the incident to its Nato allies to prepare a response under article four of the alliance's founding treaty. The article provides for states to "consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the parties is threatened." It stops short of the explicit mention of possible armed responses cited in article five. A Nato spokeswoman said the alliance's North Atlantic council would meet on Tuesday at Turkey's request Davutoglu told the state broadcaster TRT on Sunday that the plane entered Syrian airspace but quickly left when warned by Turkey and was shot down in international airspace several minutes later. Davutoglu said the plane was clearly marked as Turkish, dismissing Syria's earlier statement that it had not known the plane belonged to Turkey, and that it was shot down over Syrian airspace. He said it was on a training flight to test Turkey's radar capabilities and had no "covert mission related to Syria." Turkey's president, Abdullah Gül, said on Saturday that it was "routine" for jets flying at high speeds to violate other countries' air spaces for short periods of time. A statement by the Syrian military said the Turkish plane was flying low, 1km off the Syrian coast, when it was hit by anti-aircraft fire. In a telephone interview with Turkish TV news channel A Haber on Saturday, Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi said the incident was "not an attack." An unidentified object entered our airspace and unfortunately as a result it was brought down. It was understood only later that it was a Turkish plane," A Haber quoted Makdissi in a translation of the interview. There was no hostile act against Turkey whatsoever. It was just an act of defence for our sovereignty. The Iranian foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, urged Turkey and Syria late on Saturday to show restraint over the incident, his ministry said. In a telephone conversation with Davutoglu, Salehi said he hoped the two sides would "settle the issue peacefully to maintain regional stability," said a statement on the Iranian foreign ministry's website. The UK foreign secretary, William Hague, said the "outrageous" act underlined the need for Assad's regime to go. I have made clear to Foreign Minister Davutoglu the UK's strong support for the Turkish government at this difficult time," he said in a statement. Turkey has been one of the Syrian regime's most ardent critics over its brutal domestic crackdown and the incident threatens to add a new international dimension to the internal revolt against the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. With the second biggest army in Nato, and 30 years of experience fighting Kurdish rebels, Turkey would be a formidable foe for the Syrian army, which is already struggling to contain the 16-month-old revolt.