The Guardian, Tuesday, Nov 24, 2015 (and see extensive, further reading on New Cold War.org, below)
Vladimir Putin has called Turkey “accomplices of terrorists” and warned of “serious consequences” after a Turkish F-16 jet shot down a Russian warplane on Tuesday morning, the first time a NATO country and Moscow have exchanged direct fire over the crisis in Syria.
The Russian president, speaking before a meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan in Sochi, said the plane had been shot down over Syrian airspace and fell 4km inside Syria. Putin said it was “obvious” the plane posed no threat to Turkey.
“Our military is doing heroic work against terrorism … But the loss today is a stab in the back, carried out by the accomplices of terrorists. I can’t describe it in any other way,” he said. Putin suggested the Turks were shielding Islamic State terrorists from Russian attacks, saying: “Do they want to make NATO serve ISIS?”
Ankara and the Kremlin gave conflicting accounts of the incident, which appears to have occurred in an area near the Turkish-Syrian border straddling Iskenderun and Latakia.
The Turkish military said it scrambled two F-16 fighter jets after a plane entered Turkish airspace in the province of Hatay at 9.20am on Tuesday, warning it to leave 10 times in five minutes before shooting it down. A government official said, “In line with the military rules of engagement, the Turkish authorities repeatedly warned an unidentified aircraft that they were 15km or less away from the border. The aircraft didn’t heed the warnings and proceeded to fly over Turkey. The Turkish air forces responded by downing the aircraft.
“This isn’t an action against any specific country: our F-16s took necessary steps to defend Turkey’s sovereign territory.”
Russia’s defence ministry, in a series of tweets, confirmed that a Russian Su-24 had been shot down, but insisted the plane had never left Syrian airspace and claimed that fire from the ground was responsible. “At all times, the Su-24 was exclusively over the territory of Syria,” the defence ministry said.
“The Su-24 was at 6,000 metres and preliminary information suggests it was brought down by fire from the ground. The circumstances are being investigated.”
There were unconfirmed reports that both pilots were killed after parachuting from the jet. The Turkish TV network CNN Türk reported that one of the pilots was found dead. A graphic video purporting to show a dead Russian pilot has been widely circulated.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Russian helicopters were combing the crash site area in Jabal al-Turkman in Syria’s northern Latakia province for the pilots, and have apparently blocked wireless communications.
The area near where the plane was shot down is the site of continuing clashes between forces loyal to the embattled Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, and rebels fighting to overthrow him.
Russia launched a military intervention in October aimed at protecting the areas in western Syria still under control by the regime after nearly five years of civil war. The northern Latakia countryside has seen repeated aerial assaults by both Russian and Syrian air forces.
Tensions between Turkey and Russia have risen over Moscow’s bombing campaign against ethnic Turkmens close to the Turkish border. Turkey has repeatedly expressed concern over the attacks on the Turkmens, a Sunni Muslim minority whom many Turks regard as their kith and kin. Like the Ankara government, the Turkmens oppose Assad’s Alawite regime.
Shortly after the Russian intervention, Turkey warned the Kremlin that it would not tolerate violations of its airspace, after two incidents that prompted consultations with NATO.
Sinan Ülgen, a former Turkish diplomat who is now the chairman of the Edam thinktank in Istanbul, said Tuesday’s incident had been coming for some time. “There were two airspace violations [in the past few weeks], and after that a very high-level Russian military delegation came to Turkey to talk about it, including a top air force official. They apologised for one of the incidents, saying that in that case the Russian pilot didn’t speak the language. So we thought we had an understanding and solved the problem.
“So it’s a surprise that it happened since that visit,” said Ülgen. “But it’s not a surprise in terms of Russian strategy. Since the intervention, the Russians have been testing the Turkish response at its borders and its rules of engagement.
“In this case, the pilot was warned a number of times. First at 13 miles out from the Turkish border, and then at five miles out, which is when Turkish jets scramble. It went past all those thresholds,” he said.
Putin said there would be “serious consequences” for Russia-Turkish relations. “We have always treated Turkey as a friendly state. I don’t know who was interested in what happened today, certainly not us. And instead of immediately getting in contact with us, as far as we know, the Turkish side immediately turned to their partners from NATO to discuss this incident, as if we shot down their plane and not they ours.”
Turkey opposes Assad and has condemned the Russian intervention for targeting rebels not affiliated with the terror group Islamic State.
The latest incident highlights the grave risks of clashes of arms between the various international forces that have intervened in Syria. A coalition led by the US. .is conducting a campaign against ISIS in the country [sic], and American and Russian officials have worked on ensuring there are no clashes between their forces as they pursue their separate campaigns. But the shooting down of the Russian plane is an escalation that leaves open the possibility of a clash between a NATO member and Russia, whose intervention shows an increasing assertiveness in international affairs.
Excerpts from video comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin, translated and published on The Guardian:
- “The loss today is a stab in the back, carried out by the accomplices of terrorists. I can’t describe it in any other way.”
- “Our aircraft was downed over the territory of Syria, using air-to-air missile from a Turkish F-16. It fell on the Syrian territory 4km from Turkey.”
- “Neither our pilots nor our jet threatened the territory of Turkey.”
- “Today’s tragic event will have significant consequences, including for Russia-Turkish relations … Instead of immediately getting in contact with us, as far as we know, the Turkish side immediately turned to their partners from Nato to discuss this incident, as if we shot down their plane and not they ours.”
- “Do they want to make NATO serve ISIS? … We hope that the international community will find the strength to come together and fight against the common evil.”
Excerpt from analysis by Simon Tisdal, in The Guardian, Nov 24:
… Russia’s intervention on behalf of the regime in Damascus angered [President] Erdogan, who vowed to bring down Assad after Turkish mediation efforts at the outbreak of the civil war in 2011 were rejected by Damascus. Like the US, Turkey fears Russia’s involvement will complicate an already fraught situation, prolong the war, and exacerbate the refugee crisis along Turkey’s border, across which more than 2 million Syrians have fled. Erdogan was said to be especially annoyed that he was not consulted about Russia’s intentions during his visit to Moscow in September, when he met Putin. Turkey has a long history of tension with Russia over unresolved disputes such as Moscow’s support for Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian-controlled breakaway enclave in Azerbaijan.
Ottoman Turkey and tsarist Russia fought a war in 1877-78. And Stalin briefly laid claim to parts of eastern Turkey at the end of the second world war. But ties have improved in recent times, with a series of energy and trade deals. Russia is now Turkey’s second-largest trading partner and 60% of its natural gas comes from Russia. Economic dependence is one powerful reason, among several, why Erdogan will not want this latest border incident to escalate into a wider confrontation – although this is something that may not be entirely within his control.
Read also:
Moscow-Ankara tensions over Syria as Russia halts Turkish truck traffic at its border, al-Monitor, Oct 28, 2015
Right-wing gov’t in Turkey wins parliamentary majority in Nov 1 national election, news compilation by New Cold War.org, Nov 2, 2015
Turkish President Erdogan’s plans for Syria are backfiring badly, The Independent, Oct 29, 2015
Turkey takes gas price dispute with Russia to international arbitration, Reuters, Oct 27, 2015
Turkey: Lacking geopolitical leverage in Russian relations, by Dorian Jones, Eurasia.net, October 26, 2015
Russia’s entry into the Syrian conflict is upsetting Turkey’s diplomatic ambitions. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s power play has shown that his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, lacks geopolitical leverage…
Erdoğan’s supporters are striving to put the best spin on an increasingly difficult position. “There are areas of excellent relations side by side with areas of disagreement, so it’s a complicated relationship,” AKP spokesperson Ömer Çelik, a close presidential confidant, said when discussing the new parameters of the Turkish-Russian relationship with foreign journalists earlier in October.
Russia halts truck traffic from Turkey, Zaman News, Oct 16, 2015
… Russia was Turkey’s seventh biggest export partner in 2014 and its largest import partner that year.
Just one day after tension increased between the two countries, Russia’s state-owned Gazprom said it had halved the yearly amount of gas that is planned to flow through the long-awaited Turkish Stream pipeline project, which will supply gas to both Turkey and Europe. Even though energy analysts opt not to establish a direct link between the two incidents, the timing of the decision prompted doubts over it.
Russian plan to expand Nord Stream gas pipeline will end Ukraine gas transit, New Cold War.org, Sept 10, 2015
