Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Ankara briefs UN, NATO, cites breach of sovereignty

Turkey informed United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the five members of the UN Security Council in writing over the downing of a Russian warplane, Turkish diplomatic sources said on Tuesday.

Turkey's deputy undersecretary has already met with the charge d'affairs of Russia, the US and Britain as well as the French ambassador after Turkish F16s shot down a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian border, saying it had repeatedly violated its airspace.

Turkey will brief NATO ambassadors on Tuesday about the events surrounding its shooting down of a Russian jet, a spokeswoman for the military alliance said.

Putin expressed anger at Turkey's decision to convene a meeting of NATO to discuss the incident, suggesting Ankara should instead have swiftly tried to contact Moscow.

"It's as if we shot down a Turkish plane rather than them shooting down one of ours. What do they want? To put NATO at Islamic State's disposal? We will never tolerate such crimes like the one committed today," Sputnik News quoted Putin as saying.

European Union president Donald Tusk called for calm on Tuesday after Turkey, a candidate for membership of the bloc, shot down the plane.

"In this dangerous moment after the downing of Russian jet, all should remain cool headed and calm," tweeted Tusk, the former Polish prime minister.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini meanwhile said she had spoken to Jens Stoltenberg, the head of the NATO military alliance of which Turkey is a member. "Need to avoid escalation #Turkey #Russia," the former Italian foreign minister tweeted.

The European Commission, said it was "following developments closely" and "trying to find out exactly what happened."

Solidarity with Turkmens

The Turkish military said the aircraft had been warned 10 times in the space of five minutes about violating Turkish airspace. Officials said a second plane had also approached the border and been warned.

A Turkish official said the incident was not an action against any specific country but a move to defend Turkey's sovereign territory within its rules of engagement, Reuters reported.

Both Russia and Syria's government, have carried out strikes in the area. A Syrian military source said the downing was being investigated.

Turkey called this week for a UN Security Council meeting to discuss attacks on Turkmens in neighboring Syria, and last week Ankara summoned the Russian ambassador to protest against the bombing of their villages.

Ankara has traditionally expressed solidarity with Syrian Turkmens, who are Syrians of Turkish descent.

About 1,700 people have fled the mountainous Syrian area near to the Turkish border as a result of fighting in the last three days, a Turkish official said on Monday. Russian jets have bombed the area in support of ground operations by Syrian government forces.

Some Western analysts characterized the downing of the jet as a robust response by Turkey which they said created clear red lines for Russia and should thereby make further clashes less, rather than more likely.

"Reducing the margin for error in this way lowers, rather than raises, the potential for more serious clashes," said Keir Giles, associate fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House in London.

Russian and Turkish shares fell on fears of an escalation between the former Cold War enemies. Russia's main stock index fell more than 2 percent, while Turkish stocks fell 1.3 percent by press time. Both the ruble and lira were weaker.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov advised Russians not to visit Turkey and one of Russia's largest tour operators to the country said it would suspend sales of trips. 

  globaltimes.cn
25/11/15
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