Turkey shoots down Russian fighter jet

[Barrister]

Turkey Takes Down a Russian Warplane
Turkish forces shot down the aircraft near the Syrian border on Tuesday, saying it violated its airspace.
     
MARINA KOREN  7:58 AM ET   GLOBAL
Updated on November 24 at 10:27 a.m. ET

Turkey has shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border after the aircraft violated its airspace and ignored repeated warnings, according to the Turkish military.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday that one of its jets had crashed in northwestern Syria "presumably as a result of shelling from the ground," The New York Times reported. Later, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is in Sochi meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah II, said at a press conference that the warplane was struck by air-to-air-missiles launched by Turkish fighter jets, The Guardian reported.

The Turkish military said its forces issued 10 warnings to the jet, a Sukhoi SU-24, after it entered its airspace near the Turkey-Syria border, according to CNN. Turkish military then "responded" when the warplane ignored the warnings.

Putin called the downing of the plane "a stab in the back, carried out by the accomplices of terrorists." He said the warplane did not violate Turkey's airspace.


The warplane's two pilots were able to eject themselves from the aircraft before it crashed. They came under fire by a Syrian rebel group, and both were as they parachuted the ground, Reuters reported.

The downing of the warcraft will likely further escalate tensions between Turkey and Russia. Moscow's recent intervention in Syria has aggravated Ankara; Russian air strikes have targeted Turkish-rebel groups who are fighting against the Assad government, which Turkey opposes, and Russian warplanes in Turkish skies at least twice last month without permission.

NATO has called an emergency meeting, requested by Turkey. "The aim of this extraordinary NAC meeting is for Turkey to inform allies about the downing of a Russian airplane," a NATO spokesperson told the AP.

Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has canceled a planned visit to Turkey on Wednesday. Russia's ambassador to Turkey was summoned to the offices of Turkey's foreign ministry, according to Russian news agency Sputnik.

In his remarks Tuesday, Putin mentioned a deconfliction agreement Moscow signed with Washington after Russian forces began bombing extremists in Syria last month in order to avoid dangerous clashes in a shared airspace.

"Taking into account that we signed an agreement on deconflicting with the U.S., and as we know Turkey was among the ones that has joined the U.S. coalition," he said, referring to the U.S.-led mission of several nations that carries out near daily strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria. Turkey joined in the effort in late August.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/11/turkey-russia-syria-nato/417450/

[Maladict]

Another one? 

[Martinus]

The warplane's two pilots were able to eject themselves from the aircraft before it crashed. They came under fire by a Syrian rebel group, and both were as they parachuted the ground, Reuters reported.

Both were what??? This is arguably the most important information and they fucking screw it up.

[Martinus]

Oh so it seems BB can't copy paste. Or perhaps he thought that it is too early to pass judgement.

[lustindarkness]

My first image when I read the thread title was a thanksgiving turkey (silly pilgrim hat and all) with a rocket launcher.

On topic, this could get interesting.

[Malthus]

My first image when I read the thread title was a thanksgiving turkey (silly pilgrim hat and all) with a rocket launcher.

On topic, this could get interesting.

In Soviet Russia Thanksgiving, Turkey bastes YOU!

[Richard Hakluyt]

My first image when I read the thread title was a thanksgiving turkey (silly pilgrim hat and all) with a rocket launcher.

On topic, this could get interesting.

But it was the Russians who were stuffed 

[Jaron]

Lord have mercy on these brave Russian pilots and the cowardly Turks who made their mission more difficult.

[Barrister]

Oh so it seems BB can't copy paste. Or perhaps he thought that it is too early to pass judgement.

I can hit Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V with the best of them.

That's how the article was written at the time I posted.  I see it has now changed to say the pilots were killed.

[Hamilcar]

Putin has basically called out Turkey for profiting from ISIS oil and supporting them.

[Barrister]

More details over at the BBC:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34913173



So it seems the Jet did violate Turkish airspace, though the Russians defend it by saying it was only briefly.  The Turks shoot down the plane after it had left Turkish airspace however.

If the Russians weren't so damned aggressive in testing everyone's airspace I might feel sorry for them.

[Richard Hakluyt]

This is also being discussed over in the main ISIS thread btw.

As I said there, if that map is accurate then the Russian flight time in Turkish airspace can only have been a few seconds.

[Josephus]

So they were shot outside Turkish airspace. That makes a huge diff.

[Malthus]

I assume this was a 'straw that broke the camel's back' situation. That is, that the Russians were needling the Turks with violations, until the Turks basically said 'next time they do it, then POW!'.

[Berkut]

So they were shot outside Turkish airspace. That makes a huge diff.

Not really.

If the Turks were justified in shooting, they were justified by the violation.

I am not sure they were, so whether the aircraft was hit in the few seconds/minutes it was inside Turkey proper or not is immaterial.

If they ARE justified, it is on the basis that the target violated their airspace after being explicitly warned not to do so - if in fact it took a few moments for that consequence to impact, then so what?

I don't think Turkey is claiming the aircraft was an imminent threat to them base don its actually being in Turkish airspace.