Reuters
Ankara
Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border yesterday, saying the jet had violated its air space, in one of the most serious publicly acknowledged clashes between a Nato member country and Russia for half a century.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the plane had been attacked when it was 1km inside Syria and warned of “serious consequences” for what he termed a stab in the back administered by “the accomplices of terrorists”.
“We will never tolerate such crimes like the one committed today,” Putin said, as Russian and Turkish shares fell on fears of an escalation between the former Cold War enemies.
In a letter to the UN Security Council, Turkey said it had shot down the jet while in Turkish air space. Along with a second plane, the aircraft had flown more than a mile into Turkey for 17 seconds, despite being warned 10 times in five minutes while approaching to change direction, the letter said.
“Nobody should doubt that we made our best efforts to avoid this latest incident. But everyone should respect the right of Turkey to defend its borders,” Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara.
In condemnation of Russian air strikes in Syria, during which Turkish air space has been violated several times in recent weeks, Erdogan said that only Turkey’s “cool-headedness” had prevented worse incidents in the past.
Each country summoned a diplomatic representative of the other. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov cancelled a visit to Turkey due today and the defence ministry said it was preparing measures to respond to such incidents.
US President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande, meeting in Washington, urged against an escalation, while Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance stood in solidarity with Turkey.
Footage from private Turkish broadcaster Haberturk TV showed the warplane going down in flames, a long plume of smoke trailing behind it as it crashed in a wooded part of an area the TV said was known by Turks as “Turkmen Mountain”.
Separate footage from Turkey’s Anadolu Agency showed two pilots parachuting out of the jet before it crashed.
A deputy commander of rebel Turkmen forces in Syria said his men shot both pilots dead as they came down. The Russian military confirmed one pilot had been shot dead from the ground and another soldier died during a rescue operation.
A senior Turkish official said at least one of the pilots could still be alive. “It’s not a fact but a possibility. We’re trying to verify the information and taking all necessary steps to facilitate their return,” the official said.
A video sent to Reuters earlier appeared to show one of the pilots immobile and badly wounded on the ground.
Russia’s defence ministry said one of its Su-24 fighter jets had been downed in Syria and that “for the entire duration of the flight, the aircraft was exclusively over Syrian territory”, a suggestion Turkey denied.
“The data we have is very clear. There were two planes approaching our border, we warned them as they were getting too close,” another senior Turkish official told Reuters. “Our findings show clearly that Turkish air space was violated multiple times. And they violated it knowingly.”
A US military spokesman said it was an issue between the Turkish and Russian governments and that US-led coalition operations in Syria and Iraq were continuing “as planned”.
