Turkey does not want escalation with Russia after jet downing: Erdogan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Ankara does not want any escalation with Moscow following Turkey’s recent downing of a Russian fighter jet inside Syria.
“We have no intention to escalate this incident. We are just defending our security and the rights of our brothers,” Erdogan said in a televised speech from the Turkish city of Istanbul on Wednesday.
No one should expect Turkey “to remain silent” when its border security is violated, he added.
On Tuesday morning, Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24M Fencer jet with two pilots aboard, claiming the warplane had violated its airspace. One of the pilots was killed by militants in Syria after ejecting out of the targeted jet and another was rescued by the Syrian army.
Russia denies all of Ankara’s claims, saying that the jet was downed in Syrian airspace, where Moscow has been carrying out operations against Daesh Takfiri terrorists since September 30 upon a request by the Damascus government.
Based on radar imaging from Russia’s Hmeymim airbase in Syria, a Turkish jet actually violated Syrian airspace to attack the Russian warplane.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that the aircraft was downed over the territory of Syria with an air-to-air missile from a Turkish F-16, adding that it fell on the Syrian territory.
Putin also denounced the attack as a “stab in the back” administered by “the accomplices of terrorists.”
Furthermore, an unnamed US official told Reuters that based on the detection of the heat signature of the Russian jet, Washington believes that the aircraft was hit inside Syrian airspace.
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