Turkey and Russia have long been at loggerheads over the Syrian conflict, with Ankara seeking Assad’s overthrow while Moscow does everything to keep him in power.
Ankara : NATO member Turkey shot down a Russian war plane on the Syrian border on Tuesday, an act President Vladimir Putin denounced as a “stab in the back” by “accomplices of terrorists” as tensions spiraled between the two rival players in the Syria war. The Russian Sukhoi Su-24 jet was shot down by Turkish F-16 fighter planes after it allegedly violated the country’s air space and ignored ‘ten warnings in the space of five minutes’, army officials said. The assertion was backed up by Turkey’s NATO ally the United States. However, Russia’s Ministry of Defence claims the jet was in Syrian airspace, and was shot down from the ground. Turkey has called an extraordinary meeting of NATO while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he had scrapped a planned trip to Turkey aimed at narrowing differences on the Syria conflict.
Turkish television pictures showed the Su-24 exploding and crashing in a ball of flames into a Syrian mountain and two pilots parachuting to the ground after ejecting. Their fate was uncertain, with reports that one had been killed. The incident was the first of its kind since Russia launched air strikes in Syria in September in support of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, causing concern in the West over a possible clash with US-led coalition planes also in the skies. Footage reportedly filmed by rebels in Syria’s Turko-men Mountains, an area which has been the cause of recent tensions between Turkey and Russia, shows local fighters cheer as they uncover the body of one of the Russian pilots. The men can be seen surrounding the corpse of the pilot, wearing Russian military fatigues, shouting ‘Allahu Akbar.’ Putin branded the shooting down of the aircraft as a “stab in the back by accomplices of terrorists”. He said oil from jihadist-controlled territory was being exported through Turkey while funds were flowing back, and warned: “The tragic event will have serious consequences for Russian-Turkish relations.”
Putin said the plane fell in Syrian territory four km from the border and “did not in any way threaten Turkey”. The Turkish army said the downing took place over the Hatay province on the border with Syria. “The plane violated Turkish air space 10 times in five minutes despite warnings,” it said in a statement, adding that it was shot down “according to the rules of engagement”. Its version was backed up by the US military which said Turkish pilots had issued 10 warnings without response. Russia summoned the Turkish military attache in Moscow while Ankara summoned Moscow’s charge d’affaires to the foreign ministry. “Everyone must know that it is our international right and national duty to take any measure against whoever violates our air or land borders,” Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said.
The incident came as Russian and Syrian jets are waging a heavy bombing campaign against targets in northern Syria while the US-led coalition continues its own air strikes. Turkey has expressed anger at the operation, saying it is aimed at buttressing the Syrian regime and has displaced thousands of Turkmen Syrians, an ethnic minority in the area and strong allies of Ankara. Russia however insists its strikes are aimed against Islamic State jihadists. European Union President Donald Tusk warned of a “dangerous moment”, saying “all should remain cool headed and calm.” Turkey and Russia have long been at loggerheads over the Syrian conflict, with Ankara seeking Assad’s overthrow while Moscow does everything to keep him in power. The Turkish military in October also shot down a Russian-made drone that had entered its airspace. But Moscow denied the drone belonged to its forces.
The shoot down occurred as Russia and the West were slowly edging toward some manner of understanding to unite forces to confront the Islamic State in the wake of the bloody terrorist attacks in Paris and the downing of a Russian charter flight over Egypt that combined killed 354 people.
There is a lot of oil coming to Turkey from ISIS territory. And some of these military groups get their financing from there. And now they stab us in the back; they hit our planes that are fighting terrorism.
