Meanwhile, according to local daily Hurriyet’s report on Saturday, Turkish Air Forces are ready to shoot down any aircraft out of order after Ankara claimed that a Russian SU-34 war plane violated Turkey’s airspace on Friday.
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Ankara summoned the Russian envoy to the Foreign Ministry to “strongly protest and condemn” the violation, the statement said.
In late November a Turkish F-16 shot down a Russian Su-24 jet – the first time a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation country and Moscow have exchanged direct fire over the conflict in Syria.
“We are emphasizing once again that the unwanted consequences of such irresponsible behavior will belong fully to the Russian Federation”, it added. “Turkish authorities’ statements of an alleged violation of Turkish airspace by a Russian Su-34 jet are naked propaganda”, Maj.
“Russia will have to bear the consequences if the violations continue”, he said.
“As a result”, Gurcan told Business Insider, “Turkey has lost its capacity to change the strategic situation both on the ground and in Syrian airspace as an independent actor”.
Taking the side of its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally, Pentagon also stressed that it was important that Russian Federation and Turkey “talk to each other and take measures to prevent escalation”.
Turkey said the plane intruded into its airspace and ignored repeated warnings to leave.
He said this is only possible with the help of “direct visual contact from another aircraft, which did not take place”.
Erdogan said that he hoped to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin but to no avail.
An official with the Russian Embassy in Ankara confirmed there was a meeting, Ria Novosti reported, but spokesman Igor Mityakov declined to comment on what was discussed.
It comes two months after Turkey’s military shot down a Russian jet for allegedly crossing over its territory, sparking a possible crisis between the two countries. “Previous incidents have shown how unsafe such behaviour is”, his statement said.
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Moscow has been carrying out an anti-terrorist operation in Turkey’s neighbor Syria since September 2015 at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad. One of the two pilots was killed in the incident.
