Turkey's downing of Russian warplane is the most discussable news on November 25.
Turkey's downing of Russian warplane is the most discussable news on November 25.
BBC says that Russia denied that the warplane had crossed Syria's border and violated Turkish airspace. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the plane, which had two crew members, was flying at an altitude of 6,000m (19,685ft) when it was hit by an air-to-air missile. The plane crashed in the mountainous Jabal Turkmen area of the Syrian province of Latakia.
Turkey's permanent representative Halit Cevik wrote that the planes were warned 10 times over the space of five minutes via an "emergency" channel and asked to change direction. Rebels from Syria's ethnic Turkmen community opened fire at the crew as they tried to parachute. The pilot, Lt Col Oleg Peshkov, had been killed.
The navigator of the Russian Su-24 shot down by a Turkish fighter jet on Tuesday insists that his plane did not cross into Turkey’s airspace, and says he was given no visual or radio warning before being fired at, RT says.
“It’s impossible that we violated their airspace even for a second, - Konstantin Murakhtin told. - We were flying at an altitude of 6,000 meters in completely clear weather, and I had total control of our flight path throughout.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov: «President Putin said that this tragic event will have significant consequences for Russian-Turkish relations. In light of this, it has been decided to cancel the planned meeting of the Russian and Turkish foreign ministers at the Joint Strategic Planning Group in Istanbul on November 25. Another aspect that should also be emphasised today is the growth of terrorist threats emanating from Turkey, even disregarding the incident with the Russian military plane today. A critical mass of terrorist manifestations is building up in Turkey. We consider this threat to be no less than the threat in Egypt. In this connection, we do not recommend Russian citizens to travel to the Republic of Turkey at this stage for tourism or other purposes».
Russia is confident that was a planned provocation.
On November 25, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke on the phone with the Foreign Minister of Turkey Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, a call was initiated by Turkey.
Sergey Lavrov expressed indignation over Turkey’s unfriendly act. He pointed out that, by shooting down a Russian plane on a counter-terrorist mission of the Russian Aerospace Force in Syria, and one that did not violate Turkey’s airspace, the Turkish government has in effect sided with ISIS. Judging by the facts, Turkey’s actions appear premeditated, planned, and undertaken with a specific objective. The Russian Minister reminded his counterpart about Turkey’s involvement in the ISIS’ illegal trade in oil, which is transported via the area where the Russian plane was shot down, and about the terrorist infrastructure, arms and munitions depots and control centres that are also located there. Sergey Lavrov specifically said that this act by Turkey will have serious consequences for Russian-Turkish relations and will not go unanswered.
Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has expressed his condolences and regret over the death of the pilot. At the same time, his statement was ultimately intended to justify the actions of the Turkish Air Force. The Turkish Minister also spoke about the importance of maintaining dialogue and ties with Russia.
