Turkey Warns Russia over Air Space Violations from Syria
Turkey warned Russia on Monday against violations of its airspace by warplanes straying over the border from Syria, as NATO called an emergency meeting over the "unacceptable" intrusion.
Ankara, a NATO member, protested to Moscow after its F-16 jets intercepted a Russian fighter plane that violated its air space near the Syrian border over the weekend, forcing it to turn back.
Two Turkish jets were also harassed by an unidentified MIG-29 on the Syrian border, Turkey's army said.
"Our rules of engagement are clear whoever violates our air space," Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told Haber-Turk television.
"The Turkish Armed Forces are clearly instructed. Even if it is a flying bird, it will be intercepted," he added, but played down the idea of "a Turkey-Russia crisis".
"Our channels with Russia remain open," he said, hoping that Moscow would give up on "wrong attitudes".
Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu contacted his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, warning him not to repeat similar incidents.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, meeting with Sinirlioglu in Brussels, criticized the "unacceptable violations of Turkish airspace by Russian combat aircraft".
"I call on Russia to fully respect NATO airspace and avoid escalating tensions with the alliance," Stoltenberg said.
Stoltenberg said ambassadors from NATO's 28 member states would meet in the North Atlantic Council later Monday to discuss the situation.
Turkey and Russia remain on opposing sides of the Syrian conflict, with Moscow one of the few allies of President Bashar Assad while Ankara backs a solution excluding the embattled leader.
Russian warplanes have been flying over Syrian territory since Wednesday, conducting air strikes on what Moscow says are IS group targets in the country's northern and central provinces.
The strikes have been criticized by opposition backers like the United States, which leads a coalition already carrying out raids against IS in Syria.
A US official said Monday the Russian air space violation was probably deliberate.
"I don't believe that this was an accident," he said.
On Monday, Russia's defense ministry said its war planes had carried out strikes on nine IS targets including command centers and communications posts in three provinces in the past 24 hours.
The West has accused Moscow of mainly targeting moderate opponents of the regime.
IS has seized large parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq, committing atrocities including beheadings, rape and mass killings, and destroying archaeological and cultural heritage.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius meanwhile called for air strikes in Syria to target not only IS but other groups "considered as terrorists".
He said the "most terrifying risk" was that the conflict becomes a religious war.
"When you see a conflict which at first was a civil war, becoming a regional war involving international powers, Russia, Iran, the U.S., the risks are serious," he said.
IS has taken advantage of the chaos in Syria caused by the four-year civil war, which has killed more than 240,000 people and sent millions fleeing, to expand its influence in the country.
A year-long U.S.-led air campaign has failed to vanquish the jihadists, and Western governments have warned that Russia's involvement could make things worse.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Monday that Russia was pursuing a "losing strategy" in Syria.
"Russia has escalated the civil war, putting further at risk the very political resolution and preservation of Syria's structure of future governance it says that it wants," he said.
Source: Agence France Presse
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