In the meeting with the Russian ambassador, Turkey demanded that Russia avoid violating the Turkish airspace again and warned that Russia would be “responsible for any undesired incident”, according to the statement.
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A senior US official says the USA does not believe Russia’s incursion into Turkey’s airspace was an accident, and urgent talks are underway on what to do about the weekend incident.
“The Turkish armed forces have their orders”, he said, saying it will take the necessary steps “even if it’s a bird that violates Turkey’s border….”
“Had Turkey responded…it could have resulted in a shootdown, and it is precisely the kind of thing we warned against”, Kerry said during a visit to Chile.
The Russian strikes in Syria have largely focused on the northwestern and central provinces – gateways to the heartland of Assad’s power in the capital and on the Mediterranean coast.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu telephoned Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to complain about the incident and the Russian ambassador was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the SU-30 fighter aircraft entered Turkish air space along the border with Syria “for a few seconds” on Saturday. The military said it did not to know which country the MIG-29 belonged.
Erdogan, a strong opponent of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said the “root cause” of the refugee crisis was the “state-sponsored terrorism actually carried out by Assad himself”.
The incident comes as Turkey has expressed concerns over Russian airstrikes in Syria that have targeted a few foreign-backed insurgents.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the Russian jet intruded Saturday near the town of Yayladagi, in Hatay province.
“Russia’s actions are not contributing to the security and stability of the region”.
“I call on Russian Federation to fully respect North Atlantic Treaty Organisation airspace and to avoid escalating tensions with the Alliance”, Stoltenberg said.
Over the last 24 hours, Russian Su-34, Su-24M and Su-25 planes hit nine ISIS targets in Syria, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Monday.
Targets included militant positions, tactical units, weapons caches and vehicles, it said.
Speaking during a trip to Spain, U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter compared Moscow’s effort to bolster Assad to tethering itself to a sinking ship. There was no emergency meeting planned between Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Peskov said.
“Those countries that collaborate with the regime will account for it in history”, he said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and European Union head Donald Tusk said Monday they had discussed Ankara’s controversial plan for a safe zone cleared of Islamic State jihadi fighters in northern Syria.
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Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said the various air campaigns in Syria create “a situation that is fraught with danger and very delicate, as we’d seen in the issue of the violation of the airspace with Turkey”.
