Turkey defended Tuesday’s actions and said the pilot of the Su-24 jet had failed to respond to repeated warnings to change course, but Russian president Vladimir Putin called the incident a “stab in the back” from a supposedly friendly state.
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Two Su-24 planes approached Turkish airspace on Tuesday morning, a letter addressed to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the 15 members of the UN Security Council said. “There were two planes approaching our border, we warned them as they were getting too close”, a senior Turkish official said.
The head of the Turkish military briefed President Tayyip Erdogan on the incident, while Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu ordered consultations with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the United Nations and related countries, Reuters reported citing their respective offices. “In any case, our pilots and our plane in no way threatened the Turkish republic…”
November 24: Turkey shot down a Russian jet that it said crossed into its airspace while attacking Turkmen villages in Syria. The iShares MSCI Turkey exchange-traded fund (TUR) tumbled more than 4%, while the Market Vectors Russian Federation ETF (RSX) fell 1.7%. It’s possible the aircraft passed through Turkish airspace twice before it was shot down.
“We will never tolerate such atrocities as happened today and we hope that the global community will find the strength to join forces and fight this evil”, Putin said. “Not us at least”.
Turkish television pictures showed the jet exploding and crashing in a ball of flames into a Syrian mountain. The aircraft was shot down “in lines with the rules of engagement”, according to a statement by the Turkish military.
Last month, Turkish jets shot down an unidentified drone that had also violated Turkey’s airspace. “And they violated it knowingly”, the Turkish official said.
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“This was a serious incident and we don’t want it to derail progress made in building a common front against Islamic State”, said the diplomat, who asked not to be named.
