DUSHANBE, November 25, 2015, Asia-Plus – International media outlets report that one of the world”s most volatile regions was roiled further Tuesday when Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the downing of the plane would have “serious consequences for Russia”s relationship with Turkey.”
The shooting of the plane, Putin said, “represents a stab in the back by the terrorists” accomplices. I can”t describe what has happened today in any other way. Our plane was downed over Syrian territory by an air-to-air missile from a Turkish F-16 jet.
“The plane fell on Syrian territory 4 kilometers away from the Turkish border. It was flying 1 kilometer away from the Turkish border when it was attacked. In any case, neither our pilots nor our jet posed any threat to Turkey. That is obvious. They were carrying out an operation fighting against ISIL in Northern Latakia.”
If ISIL militants earned hundreds of millions of dollars from trading oil and enjoyed the protection of the armed forces “of entire governments” no wonder, said Putin, they behaved so boldly.
“We will of course analyze everything that happened and today”s tragic events will have serious consequences for Russo-Turkish relations,” he said.
Putin expressed anger at Turkey”s decision to convene a meeting of NATO to discuss the incident, suggesting Ankara should instead have swiftly tried to contact Moscow.
“It”s as if we shot down a Turkish plane rather than them shooting down one of ours. What do they want? To put NATO at Islamic State”s disposal? We will never tolerate such crimes like the one committed today.”
For its part, Turkey said it hit the plane after it violated Turkey”s airspace and ignored 10 warnings. According to Reuters, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that the Russian plane was dealt with because it “did not answer our warning.”
ISIL isn”t present at that border area, but Turkmen were there, Erdogan said. Anyone who bombs that area attacks “our brothers and sisters — Turkmen,” Erdogan said in Ankara.
Erdogan said the plane incident was not something Turkey wanted to see happen, and “this does not indicate any animosity” toward any country.”
Meanwhile, CNN quoted a U.S. official as saying a calculation shows the Russian jet was in Turkish airspace for 30 seconds or less. The Turkish government has said that it issued 10 warnings over five minutes but did not say all of those warnings occurred while the jet was in their airspace.
