Turkey seeking to ‘heighten tensions’ with Russia: Analyst

Turkey is seeking to “heighten tensions” with Russia with new allegation that Moscow violated Ankara’s airspace near the Syrian border, a former official at the US Defense Department says.

“The whole notion of violating of airspace is one in which Turkey is trying to aggravate the situation because it’s completely opposed to Russian position in supporting the Kurds and indeed supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad,” said Michael Maloof, a former senior security policy analyst at the Pentagon.

“The Turks are taking advantage of an opportunity here just to heighten tensions,” Maloof told Press TV on Sunday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “is out of control and working hand in hand with the Saudis, so he has his own agenda to why he wants to artificially raise tensions in an area that’s already very, very tense,” he added.

Turkey said on Saturday a Russian SU-34 jet had violated its airspace despite warnings, once more fueling tensions between two countries involved in Syria's conflict.

But Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov denied late on Saturday that any Russian plane had entered Turkish airspace, and called the Turkish allegation "pure propaganda."

The incident has sparked fears of another military encounter between Russia and Turkey, after the NATO-member’s downing of a Russian Su-24 aircraft over Syria on November 25, 2015.

On Saturday, Washington urged Moscow to respect North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) airspace.

“We are aware of reports and can confirm that yesterday another Russian combat aircraft violated Turkish — and NATO – airspace,” Pentagon spokesman Mark Wright told Russia’s RIA Novosti in a statement.

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