Turkish FM confirms Russian ambassador summoned again over plane incident

Russia’s ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov on October was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry again over an alleged second violation of the country’s airspace by a Russian plane, the Foreign Ministry’s press-service said, adding that the ministry had made no official statement on that score.

"We confirm that the Russian ambassador to Turkey was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on October 3 and then on October 5 over what it described as violations of the national airspace on October 3 and 4. At a meeting with Turkey’s deputy foreign minister a protest was lodged with the Russian ambassador over the incident," the Foreign Ministry’s press-service said.

Russia on Monday acknowledged the instance of violation of Turkey’s airspace on October 3, when a Russian Sukhoi-30 warplane briefly entered Turkish airspace by mistake.

Earlier, Turkey’s General Staff claimed in a formal statement that while performing a patrol mission along the Turkish-Syrian border on October 4 a MiG-29 plane of unidentified nationality for five minutes and 40 seconds kept two Turkish F-16 planes on its radar as potential targets. The Turkish Defence Ministry has not yet published any details regarding the October 4 air incident.

"As for the reports Turkish planes on Sunday were allegedly chased by an unidentified MiG-29 fighter jet, they have no bearing on the Russian air group whatsoever," the Russian Defence Ministry’s spokesman Igor Konashenkov told a news briefing on Monday.

"There are no Russian planes of this type at the Khmeimim air base," he said. [tass.ru]
6/10/15
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