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Turkey Shoots Down Russian Warplane Near Syrian Border Turkey Shoots Down Russian Warplane Near Syria Border
(about 1 hour later)
ISTANBUL — Turkish fighter jets on patrol near the Syrian border shot down a Russian warplane on Tuesday after it violated Turkey’s airspace, a long-feared escalation that could further strain relations between Russia and the West. ISTANBUL — Turkish fighter jets on patrol near the Syrian border on Tuesday shot down a Russian warplane that Turkey said had violated its airspace, a long-feared escalation that could further strain relations between Russia and the West.
The Turkish prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, ordered the Foreign Ministry to consult with NATO and the United Nations over this episode, his office said in a statement, without elaborating. NATO announced that it would hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday in Brussels to discuss the downing.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that one of its jets, a Sukhoi SU-24, had crashed in Syria but said it had been downed “presumably as a result of shelling from the ground.”The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that one of its jets, a Sukhoi SU-24, had crashed in Syria but said it had been downed “presumably as a result of shelling from the ground.”
The Russian Defense Ministry also asserted that, “The plane stayed exclusively above the territory of Syria throughout the entire flight,” and said that the two pilots had ejected. The Turkish military avoided identifying the nationality of the plane, but said in a statement on its website that its pilots fired only after repeated warnings to the other warplane. Turkey released a map that it said showed that the plane, flying east, was shot down as it transited a narrow finger of Turkish land less than 2 miles wide that juts down into Syria.
The Turkish military did not identify the nationality of the plane but said in a statement on its website that its pilots fired only after repeated warnings to the other warplane.
“The aircraft entered Turkish airspace over the town of Yaylidag, in the southeastern Hatay province,” the statement read. “The plane was warned 10 times in the space of 5 minutes before it was taken down.”“The aircraft entered Turkish airspace over the town of Yaylidag, in the southeastern Hatay province,” the statement read. “The plane was warned 10 times in the space of 5 minutes before it was taken down.”
The incident comes just a day before Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, is scheduled to travel to Turkey for what now promises to be tense discussions. The countries’ relations have been strained by the Kremlin’s intervention in Syria on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad and against the rebels backed by Ankara. A Turkish official repeated that, saying, “In line with the military rules of engagement, the Turkish authorities repeatedly warned an unidentified aircraft that they were 15 kilometers or less away from the border.”
Russia’s presidential spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said in Moscow on Tuesday that it was impossible to say how this would affect relations between the countries until the circumstances were more fully understood. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was discussing matters of national security, said that the pilot ignored the warnings and flown into Turkish airspace. “The Turkish Air Forces responded by downing the aircraft,” the official said.
The incident occurred as Russia and the West were slowly edging toward some manner of understanding to unite forces to confront the Islamic State in the wake of the bloody terrorist attacks in Paris and the downing of a Russian charter flight over Egypt that together killed 354 people.
President François Hollande of France began a world tour this week to try to build consensus on the issue, with stops in Washington and Moscow in the coming days.
But the Sukhoi incident was likely to further sour relations between two key parties to any solution, Moscow and Ankara, already bruised over previous tensions on the border and differences over the fate of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. The Kremlin dispatched its military to Syria in late September to shore up Mr. Assad and to fight rebels backed by Turkey.
With the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, traveling to Turkey for meetings on Wednesday, “Russia-Turkey relations will drop below zero,” Ivan Konovalov, director of the Center for the Study of Strategic Trends, said on state-run Rossiya 24 cable news channel.
The Kremlin was more reticent. President Vladimir V. Putin, the only man whose opinion really mattered, did not say anything immediately. Mr. Putin was in the southern resort of Sochi, where he was to meet with King Abdullah II of Jordan to discuss the Syria crisis.
“It would be wrong now to give any assessments, assumptions or make any conclusions before we get a full picture,” Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told reporters in Sochi in response to a question about how the incident would affect relations between the two countries. “We have to be patient, it is a very serious incident, but again, without all of the information it is impossible to say anything and it would be wrong.”
Mr. Peskov, like all of official Russia, asserted that the SU-24 was downed in Syrian airspace and had never violated Turkish sovereignty.
Russia’s entry into the heavily trafficked skies around Syria raised immediate concerns about mishaps, inadvertent or otherwise, that could lead to confrontations involving Turkey, a NATO member, and the United States. Turkey has warned Moscow about intrusions in its airspace at least two times since it began its bombing campaign in September and last week shot down an unmanned aerial device that analysts said was likely of Russian origin.Russia’s entry into the heavily trafficked skies around Syria raised immediate concerns about mishaps, inadvertent or otherwise, that could lead to confrontations involving Turkey, a NATO member, and the United States. Turkey has warned Moscow about intrusions in its airspace at least two times since it began its bombing campaign in September and last week shot down an unmanned aerial device that analysts said was likely of Russian origin.
The Turkish prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, ordered the Foreign Ministry to consult with NATO and the United Nations over this episode, his office said in a statement, without elaborating. In Tuesday’s incident, television footage shown on the privately owned Turkish channel Haberturk showed a warplane exploding in the air and tumbling down in flames in a wooded area, identified by the broadcaster as a region of northern Syria known to Turks as the Turkmen Mountains.
Television footage shown on the privately owned Turkish channel Haberturk showed a warplane exploding in the air and tumbling down in flames in a wooded area, identified by the broadcaster as a region of northern Syria known to Turks as the Turkmen Mountains. The Russian military said that the plane’s two pilots had ejected, and another video published by the semiofficial news service Anadolu Agency showed two figures parachuting from the aircraft. Video footage emerged soon thereafter showing one bloody pilot on the ground surrounded by Syrians exulting at his death.
Another video published by the semiofficial news service Anadolu Agency showed two figures parachuting from the aircraft. Shadi al-Ouwayni, an activist in rural Latakia province, where the pilot’s body was recovered, said one pilot was shot as he drifted to the ground in his parachute while the other was captured by a local militia called the 10th Brigade. The pilots landed in different locations but all rebel controlled, he said.
Last week, Turkey summoned the Russian ambassador, Andrey G. Karlov, to discuss Ankara’s concerns over the bombing of Turkmen villages in northern Syria and called for an immediate end to the Russian military operation close to the Turkish border, according to a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement. “One of the Russian pilots was shot as he was trying to land,” he said. “The other was injured and captured.”
A tape of one bloodied pilot lying on the ground began circulating on the Internet, with an activist saying that, “This is a Russian pilot and killer of men, women and children who was killed today after his plane was shot down in Syria.”
Tensions had been building recently over Russian bombing in the area. Last week, Turkey summoned the Russian ambassador, Andrey G. Karlov, to discuss Ankara’s concerns over the bombing of Turkmen villages in northern Syria and called for an immediate end to the Russian military operation close to the Turkish border, according to a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement.
“It was stressed that the Russian side’s actions were not a fight against terror, but they bombed civilian Turkmen villages and this could lead to serious consequences,” the statement said.“It was stressed that the Russian side’s actions were not a fight against terror, but they bombed civilian Turkmen villages and this could lead to serious consequences,” the statement said.
Ankara has long called for the protection of Turkmens, who are of Turkish descent, in Syria.Ankara has long called for the protection of Turkmens, who are of Turkish descent, in Syria.
The downing of the jet on Tuesday was the first time that anything negative has dominated Russian news coverage of the military campaign.The downing of the jet on Tuesday was the first time that anything negative has dominated Russian news coverage of the military campaign.
Coverage in the state-controlled news media has been heavily sanitized, consisting mostly of cockpit videos of bombs striking targets or of generals talking in briefing rooms. The first publicly acknowledged casualty, the death of a young soldier last month, was quickly dismissed officially as a suicide. The Russian officials vehemently deny that their bombing campaign has killed any civilians in Syria.Coverage in the state-controlled news media has been heavily sanitized, consisting mostly of cockpit videos of bombs striking targets or of generals talking in briefing rooms. The first publicly acknowledged casualty, the death of a young soldier last month, was quickly dismissed officially as a suicide. The Russian officials vehemently deny that their bombing campaign has killed any civilians in Syria.
The Kremlin is highly sensitive to comparisons with the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan 35 years ago, which despite Soviet censors slowly soured much of the public on foreign intervention.The Kremlin is highly sensitive to comparisons with the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan 35 years ago, which despite Soviet censors slowly soured much of the public on foreign intervention.