Turkey’s foreign ministry released a statement on Monday that claimed they had intercepted a Russian fighter jet, which had violated Turkey’s airspace. The ministry called in the Russian ambassador and lodged a formal complaint that the Russian Federation will be held accountable for any further incident that may occur. The Russian jet was intercepted in the Yayladagi region of Turkey in the Hatay province and was intercepted by two F-16s from the Turkish air force after the Russian aircraft was entering into Syria via Turkish airspace.
A spokesperson from the Russian defense ministry dismissed any notions that this incident was anything nefarious and suggested that it was only a mistake made due to certain weather conditions that forced the pilot to enter Turkish airspace. The spokesperson suggested that any conspiracy theories should be shot down, since this was only a one-off incident and only happened due to bad weather conditions.
Turkey & Russia at Loggerheads over Syria Policy
The Prime Minister of Turkey, Mr. Ahmet Davutoglu, released a statement on Monday that accepted the Russian claims that the violation was a mistake. He stated that the Turkish foreign minister had already discussed the incident with his Russian counterpart and made it clear that this mistake shouldn’t be repeated in the future. He further explained that everyone knows about the rules of violating international airspace and any further engagements that follow it. Anyone that violates the borders or airspace of Turkey will be given a warning in a friendly manner. He claimed that relations between Turkey and Russia were friendly and even referred to them as ‘Our neighbor and our friend’. The Prime Minister also stated that the issue in Syria will not develop into a Turkish-Russian crisis and that there are no tensions between Russia and Turkey.
NATO’s North Atlantic Council also issued a statement in light of the recent dangerous military activities of the Russian Federation in and around Syria and said that the violation of Turkish airspace by the Russian jets was totally unacceptable. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recently met the Turkish Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu to discuss the recent Russian military moves in Syria. Stoltenberg stated that the actions of the Russian Federation were in no way contributing towards the stability and security of the region and then called on Russia to fully respect NATO airspace and avoid escalating tensions with the Alliance.
Sputnik Accuses United States
The Russian state news agency Sputnik released a report that accused the United States of making a huge deal about the accidental violation of Turkish airspace. This is following new reports that suggest Russia will intensify the airstrikes in Syria, which it claims is against ISIS. Over the last 2 days, Russian Su-34, Su-24M and Su-25 aircrafts have hit 9 ISIS strongholds in Syria according to the Russian Defense Ministry. They were pinpoint strikes against ISIS facilities in the Latakia, Homa, Idlib and Hama provinces in Syria. It revealed that the targets destroyed included an ISIS command center, training camp, weapons and vehicles, communication center and ammunition depots.
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