Tuesday, 24 November 2015

Turkey Downing Of Russia Jet 'Stab In The Back' - Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has bitterly condemned the downing of
a Russian jet on the Turkey-Syria border.

He described it as a "stab in the back" committed by "accomplices of
terrorists".

Turkey says its jets shot at the plane after warning that it was
violating Turkish airspace. But Moscow says it never strayed from
Syrian airspace.

Nato is holding an extraordinary meeting to discuss the incident at
Turkey's request.

Mr Putin warned there would be "serious consequences" for Moscow's
relations with Turkey.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said he was cancelling his
visit to Turkey, where he was due on Wednesday, over the incident.

He also advised Russians not to visit Turkey and said the threat of
terrorism there was no less than in Egypt, where a bomb attack brought
down a Russian passenger plane last month.

In the latest response:
US President Barack Obama has said Turkey has a right to defend its
territory and airspace, and that the incident pointed to ongoing
problems with Russia's military operations in Syria. He said it was
important to find out exactly what had happened and to take measures
to "discourage any kind of escalation"

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkey's right to
protect its borders must be respected
Nato's ambassadors have called on Turkey to show "cool-headedness"
after downing Russian warplane, diplomatic sources are quoted by
Reuters news agency as saying
Who are the Turkmen in Syria?
Was jet downing an overreaction?

Syria crisis: Where key countries stand

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the jet was brought down over Syria
Mr Putin said the Su-24 was hit by an air-to-air missile fired by a
Turkish F-16 while it was flying over Syrian territory.

He said the plane had been attacked "at a height of 6,000 metres
(20,000ft), 1km from the border".

It crashed into Syrian territory 4km from the border, he added.

It flew over a small piece of Turkey that projects into Syria that
would have taken the jet only a few moments to fly over,
correspondents say.

This was tough language from an icy-looking President Putin. Much of
his comments were for domestic consumption. After all, he launched air
strikes in Syria arguing that it would make Russia safer; instead, 224
people were blown out of the sky last month in a bomb attack - and now
this.

By rounding on Turkey, he is in part deflecting any suggestion that
his own policy has backfired. But he is clearly furious too and it's
not clear yet how that will translate into action.

On state TV, there have been calls for a "tough response"; there's
talk of economic sanctions - and the foreign ministry has issued a
travel warning, proclaiming Turkey as dangerous as Egypt following the
terror attack on tourists there.

Since then, and the Paris attacks, there had been hints of a
rapprochement between Russia and the West - uniting against a common
threat. Ideally, Russia won't want to scupper that, but this latest
incident presents a huge challenge.

The two crew members ejected as their burning aircraft plunged into a
Syrian hillside.

Video footage has shown what appears to be the dead body of one of the
flyers, surrounded by armed rebels.
Another piece of video, obtained by a Turkish news network, has shown
the pilots being shot at from the ground by unidentified rebels.

"In any case, our pilots, planes did not threaten Turkish territory in
any way. It is quite clear," Mr Putin said.

"They were carrying out an operation against Isis [Islamic State] in
the mountains of northern Latakia, where militants are focused.

-BBC

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