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Turkey Shoots Down Russian Fighter Jet in Disputed Incident Near Syrian Border

Multiple other videos appeared to show the plane itself crashing. “NATO has issued a stern ultimatum”, Erdogan said.

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In a Tweet from the country’s official Ministry of Defence Twitter account, they said Ankara made no attempt at visual contact either.

Calling on Russian Federation to direct its energy towards Islamic State forces, he added “some of those conflicts and potential mistakes or escalation are less likely to occur”.

Turkey has sided with the US-led coalition that launched air strikes previous year to defeat the Islamic State group. “The aim of this extraordinary NAC is for Turkey to inform Allies about the downing of a Russian airplane”, the official told AFP.

The warplane went down near Syria’s northwestern Turkmen town of Bayirbucak.

The Turkish army said the downing took place over the Yayladagi district of Hatay province on the border with Syria. The fate of the pilots remains unclear.

“We were stabbed in the back by the accomplices of terrorists”. “We will of course carefully analyze everything that happened”.

“Every nation has a right to protect its own borders”, said Burns. The iShares MSCI Turkey exchange-traded fund (TUR) tumbled more than 4%, while the Market Vectors Russian Federation ETF (RSX) fell 1.7%. Russia’s defense ministry said they received no communication attempts from Turkey – visual or otherwise.

In October, NATO’s governing body, the North Atlantic Council, had warned Moscow it was courting “extreme danger” by sending planes into Turkish airspace.

However, even if the radar image is genuine, it shows a flight track that would put the plane over Turkish territory for only a few seconds.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called for urgent measures to de-escalate tensions after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter plane on the Syrian border. The official, who was not authorized to discuss details of the incident, spoke on condition of anonymity. Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov cancelled a visit to Turkey that had been due on Wednesday.

Turkey has complained repeatedly that Russian planes supporting Assad are straying across the border. Russian and Syrian jets have been conducting anti-terror airstrikes in the region.

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Last month, Ankara said Turkish F-16s had intercepted a Russian jet that crossed its border and two Turkish jets had been harassed by an unidentified Mig-29. Putin defended that the pilots had not been a threat for Turkey.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg