A Russian Su-24 warplane was shot by Turkey and went down the Syrian Bayirbucak area, near the border with Turkey on Tuesday, an incident that may spark off a global war.
President Vladimir Putin accused Turkey of “stabbing in the back” on its action of downing the warplane from the ground, when it has not even violated Turkish airspace, Russia’s state-run Sputnik news agency reported.
Moreover, the Russian Defense Ministry defended its stand based on their “objective monitoring” that the plane was not in Turkish airspace. The Su-24 bomber jet was flying 6,000 meters on Syrian airspace, when it was gunned down, and its two pilots parachuted out before the plane crash.
On the contrary, Turkish presidential sources reported that in the “framework of engagement rules” Turkey had to shoot the Russian Su-24 down because it had breached Turkey’s airspace. Even Serdar Kilic, Turkey’s ambassador to the U.S. blatantly declared in his tweet: “Understand this: Turkey is a country whose warnings should be taken seriously and listened to. Don’t test Turkey’s patience. Try to win its friendship.”
Before the downing of the plane, Turkey warned the Russian warplane 10 times before it had deployed two F-16s at the border near Syria. To prove its claim, Turkey released images of the Su-24 flight path at its airspace.
Immediately thereafter, the North Atlantic Council, NATO’s governing body scheduled an emergency meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, according to a NATO official who informed Turkey’s semiofficial Anadolu Agency. The council meeting of the NATO member alliance will gather the ambassadors of the 28 countries.
This act of Turkey, according to Sajjan Gohel, international security director for the Asia-Pacific Foundation, is “a very significant escalation” that can fuel the current skirmishes in the war torn area, complicating the “already tense” relationships among countries involved.
Gohel added, that the situation is “very much the last thing that’s needed right now” particularly, when Russia could have establish and alliance with France and the U.S. against the ISIS, after the Paris attacks.
The gunning down of the Russian warplane by Turkey poses as a stumbling block to Turkey-Russia relations and may even results to “serious consequences” the Russian President said.
