Washington – While US President Barack Obama publicly expressed support for Ankara’s right to defend its sovereignty after Turkey shot down a Russian plane it says strayed into its airspace on Tuesday, US officials reportedly believe Turkey needlessly escalated tensions.
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CBS News on Tuesday quoted anonymous US officials as blaming Turkey for overreacting to a minor violation of its airspace.
Russia’s defense ministry said one of its Su-24 fighter jets had been downed in Syria and that “for the entire duration of the flight, the aircraft was exclusively over Syrian territory,” a suggestion Turkey denied.
“The data we have is very clear. There were two planes approaching our border, we warned them as they were getting too close,” another senior Turkish official told Reuters. “Our findings show clearly that Turkish air space was violated multiple times. And they violated it knowingly.”
The United States believes that the Russian jet shot down by Turkey on Tuesday was hit inside Syrian airspace after a brief incursion into Turkish airspace, a US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official said that assessment was based on detection of the heat signature of the jet.
Obama and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone on Tuesday about the need to de-escalate tensions with Russia after Turkey shot down the Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border, the White House said.
Obama expressed “US and NATO support for Turkey’s right to defend its sovereignty,” the White House said in a statement.
“The leaders agreed on the importance of de-escalating the situation and pursuing arrangements to ensure that such incidents do not happen again,” the statement said.
Erdogan on Tuesday defended Turkey’s right to protect its borders after the plane was shot down, an incident he said Turkey had made every effort to avoid.
“Despite being warned 10 times in five minutes because it was coming towards our border, it insisted on continuing its violation. This plane was downed in an intervention by our F-16s,” Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara, adding the actions were fully in line with Turkey’s rules of engagement.
“The reason why worse incidents have not taken place in the past regarding Syria is the cool-headedness of Turkey. Nobody should doubt that we made our best efforts to avoid this latest incident. But everyone should respect the right of Turkey to defend its borders,” he said.
Erdogan hit out at Russia, arguing that their military campaign is targeting many groups opposed to Syrian president al-Assad, and not only Islamic State. “Daesh (Islamic State) terrorists are not present in the area where Syrian Turkmen are living. Nobody should try to lure people. Only Syrian Turkmen who are our relatives are living in that region. They are ostensibly striking against Daesh but they are hitting Syrian Turkmen and Syrian Turkmen are trying to defend their land.”
Erdogan also said that Turkey, together with its allies, would soon realize a “humanitarian safe zone” between Syria’s Jarablus and the Mediterranean coast.
Responding to the incident earlier on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the plane had been attacked when it was one km inside Syria and warned of “serious consequences” for what he termed a stab in the back administered by “the accomplices of terrorists”.
The Russians seem to forget that they shot down a civilian airliner, Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in 1983, causing the loss of over 200 lives. The downing of that flight was caused by a trigger happy fighter pilot, who didn’t even bother to check that the plane was a civilian commercial aircraft.
The worry is whether Russia is going to eat Turkey this Thanksgiving.
Not Muhammad Hussain Obama, he defended the Moslem’s right to defend themselves. Hail to our jihadist in chief
The Chutzpah of this crew
Turkey defended their borders with multiple warnings
The Russians have tested the Turks moxie for weeks.
RE: POTUS
The audacity to dictate other countries defensive policies
Let him get involved with our borders.
This administration is almost surreal
Praise in public, criticize in private. You would think the Executive Branch knows this.
LET’S SEE WHAT THE BIG BEAR WILL DO ABOUT IT!! WE KNOW PRESIDENT BEHAIMA WOULD NOT DO ANYTHING ,BUT THE BIG BEAR IS SUPPOSED TO BE TOUGHER,NO ?
ALSO,WHAT HAS BIG BEAR DONE ABOUT THE RUSSIAN PLANE THAT WAS SHOT DOWN IN SINAI 4 WEEKS AGO?
Love to see Russia and Turkey go at it. Give Israel a break.
The Russians have been deliberately flying provocative flights near our aircraft carriers in the Pacific, and close to the borders of western Europe. They have flown very close to commercial aircraft in Europe, without giving air traffic control any advance warning. In addition, this past July 4th, they flew fighter aircraft within 25 miles of the California coast. Also, I’d like to remind everybody, that during the War off Attrition, in the early 1970’s, the Russians were flying fighter aircraft over the Suez against EY. The Israelis shot down a number of their planes. One Russian pilot was heard cursing the Israelis and Jews, before he bailed out. The Russians had made repeated incursions over Turkish airspace, and had been warned a number of times by the Turks. While it is regretful that the Russian pilot was killed by local ground forces, the area where that plane was shot down, is a very tough neighborhood.
To #14 - How was what I wrote not relevant? I was trying to point out that the Russians have engaged in a deadly game of aerial brinkmanship for decades. This time, it backfired on them. Case closed!