Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim addresses members of parliament from his ruling AK Party (AKP) during a meeting at the Turkish parliament in Ankara, Turkey, November 8, 2016. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey will allow the family of a Syrian air force pilot whose warplane crashed on Turkish territory to visit him at the hospital where he is being treated, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told A Haber broadcaster on Monday.

Turkey has been one of the leading critics of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and supports rebels fighting him in the country’s six-year-old war. It currently has armed forces involved in operations along the Syrian side of the frontier.

“This is a humanitarian issue. Permission will be granted (for the visit),” Yildirim said, adding that a commission would be set up to investigate the cause of the crash.

The 56-year-old pilot bailed out of his Mig-23 warplane as it crashed in Turkey’s Hatay region and was found by a Turkish rescue team. In his initial testimony to Turkish authorities, he said his aircraft was shot down on its way to strike rural areas near Idlib in northern Syria.