Turkey insists that its F-16 fighters shot down the Russian Su-24 on 24 November because the bomber had trespassed into its airspace. However, Muslim leaders in Russian Federation have so far supported the country’s bombing in Syria, hoping to stem the tide of extremism.
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Russian Federation says its bombers were attacking IS and other jihadist groups in Syria, helping the government forces of President Bashar al-Assad.
Of the 200,000 to 300,000 Turkmen estimated to have lived in Syria before the war, only a few tens of thousands remain.
“They agreed that it was important to wait for the investigation to establish what had happened and the Prime Minister said he would consider president Putin’s request to send British experts to assist the investigation”, the spokesperson said in statement describing the conversation.
Russian Federation has declared wide ranging sanctions against Turkey – a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member – including an import prohibition on Turkish fruit, vegetables and a few other foods, due to the edge conflict.
President Vladimir Putin has asked United Kingdom specialists to help analyse the flight recorder in a phone conversation with PM David Cameron, the Kremlin says.
It was an ethnic Turkmen group that has fought alongside both moderate rebels and militants like the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra that was being targeted by the Russian jet that was brought down near Latakia’s border with Turkey.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Wednesday said he was “ready to work” with Russia to prevent a repeat of last month’s downing of a Russian plane by the Turkish military on the Syrian border.
Shoigu said Moscow had warned Israel and the United States – conducting their own military operations in Syria – that the Russian military would be conducting the submarine strikes.
Turkey has refused to apologize for shooting down the Russian jet, and the Kremlin continues to deny the aircraft entered Turkish airspace.
It said the incident was rooted in the U.S.-led coalition’s reluctance to coordinate with Damascus on its campaign against the Islamic State group.
“What did 20th century countries used to do in a similar situation?”
Russian Federation has been pushing for the creation of a broad anti-IS coalition since launching its controversial bombing campaign in Syria in September.
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu delivered the black box to the Kremlin on Wednesday, but was told by Mr Putin not to allow it to be opened until worldwide experts were available to examine it in the hope that they will confirm Moscow’s version of events.
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Although Russia and Turkey have had good relations under the leaderships of Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the aggressive nationalism of both men and Mr Erdogan’s nationalism has seen them take different sides since the Arab Spring.
