Turkish warplanes shot down a Russian military aircraft over the Turkish-Syrian border Tuesday, leading to harsh words from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“This goes beyond the normal struggle against terrorism,” Putin said from a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Sochi. “This was a stab in the back by the accomplices of terrorists.”
This is not the first time Russia has violated Turkey’s airspace. Russian aircrafts crossed into Turkish airspace at least twice in early October alone. Reasons for the October violations were said to be “bad weather,” according to Russian officials.
President Obama said in a joint press conference with French President François Hollande on Tuesday that Turkey has the right to defend its airspace and urged Russia and Turkey to open dialogue.
“It’s very important right now to make sure both the Russians and the Turks are talking to each other,” Obama said.
The Turks, however, claim they sent 10 warnings to the Russian aircraft in a span of five minutes. Turkish F-16s hit the Russian SU-24 with air-to-air missiles, according to Putin. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov cancelled a scheduled visit to Turkey following the incident.
Turkey is one of 28 members of NATO. Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty stipulates that “an attack on one Ally shall be considered an attack on all Allies.”
Russian fighter jet shot down near Turkey-Syria border – videoEdit descriptionembed.theguardian.com“A decision has been made to cancel the meeting at the level of Russian and Turkish foreign ministers, which was planned to be held tomorrow in Istanbul,” Lavrov told reporters.
Russia quickly sent out a rescue helicopter that was shot down by Syrian rebels, Reuters reported. In the video below, some fighters ask for a halt to the shooting so they can take the pilots prisoner.
A Free Syrian Army militia of Syrian Turkmen found the pilots, one of which they say was already dead. The plane was hit 0.6 miles (1 km) from Turkey and crashed 2.5 miles (4 km) inside Syria. Turkey is often sympathetic to fellow Turkmen, regardless of their nationality.
Russia has been a firm backer of the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad and recently started a bombing campaign against groups they consider as terrorists. Russia claim the operation is to target ISIS but there have also been strikes against rebel groups who regularly fight against ISIS.
Assad made a surprise visit to Moscow late last month in what many believe to be his first time outside Syria since the civil war started in 2011.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has long sought Assad’s ouster. While the U.S. and Turkey are working to close Syria’s northern border, Turkey has long been accused of turning a blind eye to radicals crossing their border to fight their southern neighbor. Turkey has also bombed Syria recently, though the target was the Kurdish PKK group — not ISIS. Turkey’s capital Ankara was also hit by a suicide bomber attack with links to ISIS late last month. Turkey’s government was widely criticized for not doing enough to counter ISIS after the attack.
Some media outlets jumped to the idea that Monday’s incident would culminate in World War III, though commenters say that is unlikely. Should Russia attack Turkey, the other 27 NATO countries — including the United States — would have to come to Turkey’s defense under article 5.
“Russia isn’t about to attack a NATO member, but it could react harshly against Turkey’s allies among the rebels in Syria — not just Turkmen fighters, but others like the powerful Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham, which maintains ties to the Al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra,” Beirut-based correspondent Richard Hall wrote in the Global Post.
Max Hoffman, a Policy Analyst on the National Security and International Policy team at the Center for American Progress, said he didn’t think foresee an escalation between Russia and NATO forces, but that Russia could respond in other ways.
“The likely Russian response will be harsh rhetoric, aimed primarily at Putin’s domestic audience, and increased Russian targeting of Turkish-backed rebels in Syria,” Hoffman said. “This shoot-down should be contextualized with the repeated Turkish official warnings to Russia over the past month about airspace violations, and by the recent targeting of Turkmen rebels just over the border in Hatay by Russian aircraft/helicopters in support of regime troops. The Turks decried the air strikes, which sparked several thousand Turkmen refugees to flee into Hatay. This Russian jet was shot down in exactly this area, and the Turkmen rebels who may/may not have shot the pilots are the ones who were targeted by the Russian strikes. It will be interesting to see if this Turkish move causes Russia to back away from the campaign against the Turkmen rebels in Latakia, or prompts them to double down against them.”