Moscow was informed that it would be held responsible for any “undesired incident” arising from any future violation, the state media said.
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A Foreign Ministry statement said Monday that a Russian warplane entered Turkey’s airspace near the town of Yayladagi, in Hatay province on Saturday.
The Russian jet then exited the Turkish airspace into Syria after it was intercepted by two of Turkish’s F-16s from its air force.
Speaking in a live interview on HaberTürk TV, Davutoğlu accused Moscow of escalating the Syrian crisis by entering the conflict. “Our rules of engagement are clear”, Davutoğlu said. “We will warn whoever violates our borders and our airspace in a friendly manner”.
Tensions over Turkey’s stalled European Union bid, a Turkish government corruption scandal and a cancelled visit by Erdogan as prime minister in 2011 meant the red carpet welcome has been put off again and again for the leader who the West worries is becoming increasingly authoritarian after 13 years in power. The picture reads both in Turkish and Russian: ‘Murderer P…
“Turkish fighter aircraft responded to these incursions by closing to identify the intruder, after which the Russian planes departed Turkish airspace”, the statement said.
The Sukhoi-34 jets also targeted a militant training camp – obliterating infrastructure which the ministry says was being used to prepare terrorists.
A senior US defense official said on background that the USA has been in urgent consultations since Sunday with Turkish counterparts and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation on courses of action, including what if any changes the US needs to make to its defense posture.
The strikes will “isolate Russian Federation in the region“, he predicted.
Moscow announced over the weekend it was intensifying the airstrikes, which started Wednesday.
He said IS might have destroyed the celebrated arch as an attempt to recapture worldwide attention after the Russian air strikes.
While the Turkish military is not directly involved in the Syrian conflict, they are now allowing US coalition warplanes to use an airbase near the Syrian boarder.
“I’m the first one to acknowledge it has not worked the way it was supposed to”, Obama said Friday during a White House press conference, adding that the USA wanted the trained fighters to focus on Daesh, while these forces were also bombed by the Syrian regime.
Targets included militant positions, tactical units, weapons caches and vehicles, it said. However, the two are at odds with regard to the bloody civil war that is now raging in Syria. Despite claiming to be targeting ISIL, the USA and its allies have complained of Russian airstrikes on “moderate” forces fighting Assad.
“I’m sure a unit made up of Russian war veterans will emerge as part of the Syrian army”, said retired Adm. Vladimir Komoyedov in remarks carried by Russian news agencies. “Both sides agreed to cooperate to avoid unintended incidents”.
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A year-long US-led air campaign has failed to vanquish the jihadists, and Western governments have warned that Russia’s involvement could make things worse.
