Turkey warns Russia not to 'play with fire' over downed jet
Neither Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan nor Russia's Vladimir Putin show any sign of backing down
In a televised speech, Mr Erdogan warned Russia it was "playing with fire to attack the Syrian opposition, who have international legitimacy, under the pretext of fighting against Daesh".
He said Moscow was also playing with fire to use the downing of the jet "as an excuse to make unacceptable accusations against us", and accused Russians of "mistreating" Turkish citizens who were in the country for a trade fair.
Mr Erdogan said he hoped to meet Mr Putin face-to-face on the sidelines of the climate summit in Paris next week "to bring the issue to a reasonable point. We are disturbed that the issue has been escalated."
While he has refused to apologise, Mr Erdogan did say on Thursday that had Turkey known the plane was Russian, "may be we would have warned it differently".
But Mr Putin has firmly rejected any suggestion Turkey did not recognise the plane as Russian. He said it was easily identifiable and its coordinates had been passed on to Turkey's ally, the US.
A senior Russian commander went further on Friday and claimed the Russian jet was "ambushed" by two Turkish F-16s.
Gen Viktor Bondarev said Russian and Syrian radar data showed the F-16s had been flying in the area for more than an hour, and the plane that fired the missile did so from 2km (1.2 miles) inside Syria.
The Russian plane was shot down 5.5km (3.4 miles) south of the Turkish border, he said
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015...gan-idUSKBN0TG18K20151127#f35vJwsBXdohgCIg.97
Neither Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan nor Russia's Vladimir Putin show any sign of backing down
In a televised speech, Mr Erdogan warned Russia it was "playing with fire to attack the Syrian opposition, who have international legitimacy, under the pretext of fighting against Daesh".
He said Moscow was also playing with fire to use the downing of the jet "as an excuse to make unacceptable accusations against us", and accused Russians of "mistreating" Turkish citizens who were in the country for a trade fair.
Mr Erdogan said he hoped to meet Mr Putin face-to-face on the sidelines of the climate summit in Paris next week "to bring the issue to a reasonable point. We are disturbed that the issue has been escalated."
While he has refused to apologise, Mr Erdogan did say on Thursday that had Turkey known the plane was Russian, "may be we would have warned it differently".
But Mr Putin has firmly rejected any suggestion Turkey did not recognise the plane as Russian. He said it was easily identifiable and its coordinates had been passed on to Turkey's ally, the US.
A senior Russian commander went further on Friday and claimed the Russian jet was "ambushed" by two Turkish F-16s.
Gen Viktor Bondarev said Russian and Syrian radar data showed the F-16s had been flying in the area for more than an hour, and the plane that fired the missile did so from 2km (1.2 miles) inside Syria.
The Russian plane was shot down 5.5km (3.4 miles) south of the Turkish border, he said
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015...gan-idUSKBN0TG18K20151127#f35vJwsBXdohgCIg.97
