Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border on Tuesday, saying it had repeatedly violated its air space, one of the most serious publicly acknowledged clashes between a NATO member country and Russia for half a century.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the
plane had been attacked when it was 1 km (0.62 mile) inside Syria and warned of
"serious consequences" for what he termed a stab in the back
administered by "the accomplices of terrorists".
"We will never tolerate such crimes like
the one committed today," Putin said, as Russian and Turkish shares fell
on fears of an escalation between the former Cold War enemies.
Each country summoned a diplomatic
representative of the other and NATO called a meeting of its ambassadors for
Tuesday afternoon. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov canceled a visit to
Turkey due on Wednesday and the defense ministry said it was preparing measures
to respond to such incidents.
Footage from private Turkish broadcaster
Haberturk TV showed the warplane going down in flames, a long plume of smoke
trailing behind it as it crashed in a wooded part of an area the TV said was
known by Turks as "Turkmen Mountain".
Watch the video here:
Separate footage from Turkey's Anadolu Agency showed two pilots parachuting out of the jet before it crashed. A deputy commander of rebel Turkmen forces in Syria said his men shot both pilots dead as they came down.
A video sent to Reuters earlier appeared to
show one of the pilots immobile and badly wounded on the ground and an official
from the group said he was dead.
Russia's defense ministry said one of its
Su-24 fighter jets had been downed in Syria and that, according to preliminary
information, the pilots were able to eject.
"For the entire duration of the flight,
the aircraft was exclusively over Syrian territory," it said.
The Turkish military said the aircraft had
been warned 10 times in the space of five minutes about violating Turkish air
space. Officials said a second plane had also approached the border and been
warned.
"The data we have is very clear. There
were two planes approaching our border, we warned them as they were getting too
close," a senior Turkish official told Reuters.
"We warned them to avoid entering
Turkish air space before they did, and we warned them many times. Our findings
show clearly that Turkish air space was violated multiple times. And they
violated it knowingly," the official said.
A second 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.
A U.S. military spokesman said it was an
issue between the Turkish and Russian governments and that U.S.-led coalition
operations in Syria and Iraq were continuing "as planned".
This is exactly
the kind of incident that many have feared since Russia launched its air
operations in Syria. The dangers of operating near to the Turkish border have
been all too apparent. Turkish planes have already shot down at least one
Syrian air force jet and possibly a helicopter as well.
Russia insists
that its warplane did not violate Turkish air space. So, was the Russian
pilot's navigation wrong? Questions will also be asked about the readiness of
the Turks to open fire.
It suggests that
the much discussed arrangements to avoid incidents between warplanes over Syria
are inadequate. The Turkish authorities will no doubt claim that such
arrangements do not cover the approaches to their own airspace where tried and
tested procedures should apply.
There are
conflicting reports as to whether it was ground fire or Turkish jets that
brought down the Russian plane. Air operations in the crowded skies over Syria
just got a good deal more complicated. The only mitigating factor is that
initial reports suggest that two parachutes were seen so the Russian crew at
least got out of their stricken aircraft. Expect diplomatic fireworks.
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