November 26, 2015

Iraq Accuses Turkey of Pushing the World to the Brink of a Global Conflict After Downing Russian Warplane and Says Turkey's Own Planes Violate Iraqi and Syrian Airspace Every Day; Analyst Says Russia Regularly Probes and Illegally Enters the Airspace of Other NATO Members to Test Air Defenses

Turkey risks sparking world war, says Iraq's Maliki

November 26, 2015

AFP - Iraqi Vice President Nuri al-Maliki Thursday accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of pushing the world to the brink of a global conflict after Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane.

Maliki, a former prime minister who remains very influential, lashed out at Erdogan after Turkey shot down a Russian jet it said briefly violated its airspace during operations in northern Syria on Tuesday.
"Erdogan claims that a Russian aircraft entered Turkey's airspace for a few seconds, forgetting that its own planes violate Iraqi and Syrian airspace every day," he said in a statement.
Turkish fighter jets have in recent months carried out a series of deadly strikes against rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in their bases in the north of Iraq.
"Erdogan's double standards and aggressive policies are threatening a new world war," he said.
The authorities in Baghdad have long accused Ankara of playing a key role in the rise of the Islamic State group, which took over entire regions of Syria and Iraq over the past two years.

Maliki and his allies among Tehran-backed Shiite militia groups battling IS jihadists see Moscow as a key ally and have welcomed Russia's growing involvement in the regional conflict.

The downing of the Russian jet has threatened ties between two major rival players in the Syrian war and raised fears it could fuel wider geopolitical conflict, although both Ankara and Moscow have stressed they want to avoid military escalation.

Turkey Shoot-Down Shows How Putin Pushes the Envelope

November 25, 2015
Mashable - Turkey's state-run news agency and activists on the ground say Russian airstrikes hit an aid convoy travelling near the Syrian border town of Azaz in the Aleppo province.

The Anadolu agency reported that seven people were killed and 10 wounded in strikes that it said hit a Turkish convoy taking supplies to refugees in the town on Wednesday.

It is unclear who carried out the attacks, though some on the ground asserted that Russia was behind the strike. The Turkish-based IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation has a team working in the area and also made claims that the strikes came from Russian planes.

They tweeted photos of the aftermath and rescue efforts that show emergency responders struggling to extinguish the flames.

Footage posted by Syrian activists based in Azaz shows images of a convoy of trucks engulfed in flames.

Syrian regime forces have also been carrying out strikes in the area in recent weeks.

The strike on the aid convoy comes one day after Turkish forces downed a Russian jet that allegedly crossed into Turkey while conducting strikes in Syria. Turkey shot down the Russian Sukhoi Su-24 military plan and rebels on the ground shot and killed one of the pilots as he parachuted to the ground, intensifying tensions in the region.

Russia said the plane had stayed above Syria while Turkey said it had encroached upon Turkish airspace, and that it warned the Russian plane "10 times in five minutes" about the airspace violation before two Turkish F-16s shot it down.

Russian warplanes have been conducting airstrikes in the region for days, The Turkmen Mountain region near Azaz was the target of Syrian government offensive recently, under the cover of Russian air strikes.

Turkmen civilians in the area have also reportedly been targeted by Russian air strikes in the region in recent days. One week ago, Prime Minister Davutoglu condemned the attacks in the area, after the foreign ministry said Turkmen civilians were were subjected to “heavy bombardment” by Russian planes.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported earlier intensive Russian airstrikes in Azaz on Wednesday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking to the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, said that the act by Turkey will have "serious consequences for Russian-Turkish relations and will not go unanswered," according to a statement released by the Kremlin.

No comments:

Post a Comment