Turkey Downs Russian Warplane Near Syria Border, Moscow Denies Airspace Violation

"Today's loss is linked to a stab in the back delivered to us by accomplices of terrorists. I cannot qualify what happened today as anything else. We established a long time ago that large quantities of oil and oil products from territory captured by Islamic State have been arriving on Turkish territory [saying that was how militants had been funding themselves]. And now we get stabbed in our back, and our planes, which are fighting terrorism, are struck. This despite the fact that we signed an agreement with our American partners to warn each other about air-to-air incidents, and Turkey announced it was allegedly fighting against terrorism as part of the U.S. coalition." - Russian President Vladimir Putin

In October 2015, following news that Turkey had shot down a drone that violated its airspace, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu warned that the same fate would happen to a plane. "Whoever violates our borders, we will give them the necessary answer," Reuters reported him as saying at a rally of his ruling AK Party.

Russia confirms its jet was shot down near Turkish border

U.S.-armed Syrian rebels claimed Tuesday that they shot down a helicopter that was part of a search and rescue mission for two Russian pilots whose plane had been shot down by Turkey. All 10 occupants of the craft evacuated safely, the Observatory's Rami Abdulrahman told multiple media outlets. The Associated Press reported the chopper was Russian-made but being operated by the Syrian army.

November 24, 2015

AP - Turkey shot down a Russian fighter plane Tuesday — a long-feared crisis in Syria's civil war and apparently the first time a NATO member has downed a Russian plane in a half-century. At least one of the pilots was reported killed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called Turkey's action a "stab in the back by the terrorists' accomplices" and warned of "significant consequences," and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov cancelled a visit to Turkey which had been planned for Wednesday.

At Turkey's request, NATO's governing body called an emergency meeting.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu insisted his country has the right to take "all kinds of measures" against border violations, and called on the international community to work toward "extinguishing the fire that is burning in Syria."

Turkey said the Su-24 ignored several warnings that it was nearing, then intruding, into Turkish airspace. Russia insisted the plane stayed over Syria, where it was supporting ground action against rebels.

"We will never tolerate such atrocities as happened today and we hope that the international community will find the strength to join forces and fight this evil," Putin said.

Rebels said they fired at the two parachuting pilots as they descended, and that one had died. A rebel spokesman said they would consider releasing the body in exchange for prisoners held by Syria. The fate of the second pilot was not immediately known.

Despite harsh words, some analysts believe that Russia and Turkey have reasons not to let the incident escalate.

"Relations have been very strained between Russia and Turkey of late so Moscow will be trying its utmost to contain the damage this might cause," said Natasha Kuhrt, lecturer in International Peace and Security at King's College London.

"It's a serious incident in anybody's book," added Ian Kearns, director of the European Leadership Network, a London think-tank.

But Kearns said the Russian-Turkish economic relationship, including in the energy field, is important to Moscow. And Russia and the West appeared to be moving toward an understanding of their common strategic interest in eradicating the Islamic State group following the bombing of a Russian airliner over Sinai and the attacks in Paris.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry invited diplomats from the five U.N. Security Council member countries for a meeting to brief them about the incident. Separately, the Russian charge d'affaires was also invited for a meeting during which Turkey "conveyed its sensitivities" over border violations.

Turkey has complained repeatedly that Russian planes supporting Syrian President Basher Assad were straying across the border — a complaint repeated to the Russian ambassador only last Friday.

Turkey and Russia have long been at odds over the crisis in Syria. Turkey has been concerned over Russia's bombing of Turkmen areas and the fact that the Russian operations have complicated the possibility of creating a safe zone in northern Syria to protect civilians as well as moderate rebels fighting Assad. The creation of a safe zone has been a long-term Turkish goal.

Turkey has long been seeking the ouster of Assad — an important Russian ally.


The Russian plane was supporting Syrian troops which have been on the offensive in an area controlled by several insurgent groups including al-Qaida's branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, and the 2nd Coastal Division and the 10th Coast Division that includes local Turkmen fighters.

Jahed Ahmad, a spokesman the 10th Coast Division, said its forces fired at the Russian pilots as they descended. One died, Ahmad told The Associated Press.

A Turkish military statement said the plane entered Turkish airspace over the town of Yayladagi, in Hatay province.

Turkish officials released what they said was the radar image of the path the Russian plane took, showing it flying across a stretch of Turkish territory in Turkey's southern-most tip, in the region of Yayladag, in Hatay province.

Three Russian journalists working in Syria suffered minor injuries when a missile landed near their car on Monday, Russia's Defense Ministry said. They were being treated in a military hospital.

Last month, Turkish jets shot down an unidentified drone that it said had violated Turkey's airspace.

Turkey changed its rules of engagement a few years ago after Syria shot down a Turkish plane. According to the new rules, Turkey said it would consider all "elements" approaching from Syria an enemy threat and would act accordingly.

Following earlier accusations of Russian intrusion into Turkish airspace, the U.S. European Command on Nov. 6 deployed six U.S. Air Force F-15 fighters from their base in Britain to Incirlik Air Base in Turkey to help the NATO-member country secure its skies.

Sarah Lain, an analyst at the Royal United Services Institute, said the last time she could remember a NATO member country —the United States — shooting down a Russian/Soviet plane was the 1950s.

"But the Soviets appear to have shot down more U.S. planes amid the Cold War," she added.

Russia's Putin calls Turkey's downing of Russian jet 'stab in the back'

November 24, 2015

Reuters - President Vladimir Putin called Turkey's downing of a Russian fighter jet a stab in the back administered by "the accomplices of terrorists," saying the incident would have serious consequences for Moscow's relations with Ankara.

Speaking in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Tuesday before a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah, Putin said the downed plane had been attacked inside Syria when it was 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) from the Turkish border and had come down 4 kilometers (2.49 miles) inside Syria.

That contradicted Turkey's assertion that the aircraft had been warned multiple times that it was straying into Turkish airspace before it was shot down.

"Today's loss is linked to a stab in the back delivered to us by accomplices of terrorists. I cannot qualify what happened today as anything else," said a visibly furious Putin. 

"Our plane was shot down on Syrian territory by an air-to-air missile from an F-16. It fell on Syrian territory 4 kilometers from the Turkish border. It was flying at 6,000 meters 1 kilometer from Turkish territory when it was attacked."

Putin said Russian pilots and planes had in no way threatened Turkey, but had merely been carrying out their duty to fight Islamic State militants inside Syria.

"We established a long time ago that large quantities of oil and oil products from territory captured by Islamic State have been arriving on Turkish territory," he said, saying that was how militants had been funding themselves.

"And now we get stabbed in our back and our planes, which are fighting terrorism, are struck. This despite the fact that we signed an agreement with our American partners to warn each other about air-to-air incidents and Turkey ... announced it was allegedly fighting against terrorism as part of the U.S. coalition."

If Islamic State militants earned hundreds of millions of dollars from trading oil and enjoyed the protection of the armed forces "of entire governments" no wonder, said Putin, they behaved so boldly.

"We will of course analyze everything that happened and today's tragic events will have serious consequences for Russo-Turkish relations," he said.

Turkey is one of the most popular holiday destinations for Russians, and the two countries enjoy active diplomatic relations.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is due to visit Turkey on Wednesday, in a trip arranged before the incident, while Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to visit Russia for talks with Putin in December.

Putin expressed anger at Turkey's decision to convene a meeting of NATO to discuss the incident, suggesting Ankara should instead have swiftly tried to contact Moscow.

"It's as if we shot down a Turkish plane rather than them shooting down one of ours. What do they want? To put NATO at Islamic State's disposal? We will never tolerate such crimes like the one committed today."