Turkey Downs Russian Su-24: “Unacceptable Stab in the Back” – Putin

nsnbc : A Turkish F-16 shot down a Russian Su-24 fighter-bomber over Syria at an altitude of 6,000 meters at a distance of 1 km today. Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced the incident as a stab in the back by a State-sponsor of terrorism. The Head of the Russian State Duma’s (Parliament’s) International Affairs Committee, Leonid Kalashnikov, called for freezing diplomatic and economic relations with Turkey.

Video footage shows a burning trail as a plane comes down after being shot down near the Turkish-Syrian border. Haberturk T

Video footage shows a burning trail as a plane comes down after being shot down  over Latakia province. Courtesy of Haberturk TV

President Vladimir Putin responded to the incident during a meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah II, saying that Russia will not tolerate crimes like the attack on the Russian Su-24 jet over Syria. Putin stressed that he understands that each country has its own regional interests and that Russia respects that. Russia will, however, never tolerate an incident like the one that happened today, he said. Putin stressed that the Russian Su-24 posed absolutely no threat to Turkey, saying:

“Our pilots and jet posed no threat to the Turkish Republic. This is obvious. They were conducting an operation against ISIL. “The Russian bomber was shot down over Syria by an air-to-air surface fired from a Turkish F-16 plane when the bomber was at an altitude of 6,000 meters at a distance of 1 km from the Turkish bomber. … “They (the pilots red.) were fulfilling their task,”

The Su-24 was operating over Syria’s Latakia province when it was shot down by the Turkish F-16 with an air-to-air missile. It is noteworthy that Russia is currently the only country that operates in Syrian air space on invitation of the Syrian government and, as Professor Alexander Mezyaev,  the Head of the Chair of the Academy on International Law and Governance in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia pointed out, the only country that carries out air strikes in Syria in accordance with international law.

Stressing that the Su-24 was operating in the northern part of Syria’s Latakia province, where there are concentrations of insurgents, President Putin denounced the downing of the Russian jet as a crime that Russia could not tolerate. Putin slammed NATO member Turkey, saying that the incident is ” a stab in the back delivered by accomplices of terrorists”. Putin continued commenting on the incident, saying:

“Today’s loss is linked with a stab in our back delivered by terrorism accomplices. I can’t characterize otherwise what has happened today. … We’ve long exposed heavy trafficking of oil and petroleum products from Islamic State-seized territories,” Putin said, adding that monetary support for the militant groups was large, indeed. … Now we’ve suffered stabs in the back: attacks against our planes that fight with terrorism.”

It is noteworthy that the downing of the Russian jet happened shortly after the Russian and Syrian air forces dealt a massive blow against the oil smuggling infrastructure of the self-proclaimed Islamic State, a.k.a. ISIS, ISIL and Daesh. On Monday, nsnbc reported that the Russian Air Force has flown 141 sorties in Syria, carrying out 472 air strikes over the past two days, states the Russian Defense Ministry. Russian air strikes destroyed 1,000 oil tankers over the past five days, drying out the self-proclaimed Islamic State’s lucrative oil smuggling business.

In April 2013 the EU lifted its ban on the import of Syrian oil from "rebel held territory to finance the opposition".

In April 2013 the EU lifted its ban on the import of Syrian oil from “rebel held territory to finance the opposition”.

On April 22, 2013 the European Union lifted its ban on the import of Syria oil from “rebel held territories”. Syrian oil comes primarily from Syria’s Deir Ez-Zor (Deir Ez-Zour) province that is controlled by ISIS. Oil is primarily smuggled via the Kurdish administrated northern Iraq to Turkey and beyond.

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz would admit that Turkey is transporting oil from the Kurdish administrated region of Northern Iraq via Turkey, while the Kurdish government described Turkey as reliable partner in that regard. In fact, the export of northern Iraqi oil via Turkey has almost doubled in 2014 and increased to 400,000 barrels per day.

The Russian President described the downing of the Russian Su-24 by a Turkish F-16 as particularly serious because Russia has “signed agreements with the American partners on the prevention of incidents in the air, and Turkey, as is known, is among the countries that have declared they are ostensibly fighting against terrorism within the US-led coalition.”

Putin added that Turkey’s contacts with NATO member States after the incident looked like an attempt to make the Alliance serve the terrorists. Putin said:

“The Turkish side applied to its NATO partners to discuss this issue, as far as we know. … It seems as if we have shot down a Turkish plane and not vice versa. … So, does this mean that they want NATO to serve the Islamic State? … We will certainly carefully analyse what has happened and today’s tragic event will have serious consequences to Russian-Turkish relations. …I have no idea who needed what has happened today, but in any case it’s not us.”

Moscow says Russian fighter jet shot down over Syrian-Turkish borderPutin added that the incident will have “serious consequences for Russian – Turkish relations” and expressed his hope that the international community would find forces to unite in the evil of terrorism. The Russian Defense Ministry has summoned Turkey’s Military attaché in Moscow.

The two pilots of the Su-24 reportedly managed to eject from the plane after it was struck. Their status has not yet been officially confirmed. The pilots were filmed while ejecting from the aircraft. While the whereabouts and fate of one of the pilots is unknown, the other pilot was reportedly in the hands of so-called pro-Turkish Turkmen “rebels” in Syria.

The Head of the Russian State Duma’s (Parliament’s) International Affairs Committee, Leonid Kalashnikov, for his part expounded on President Putin’s remark about serious consequences for Russian – Turkish relations. Kalashnikov proposed that Russia halts diplomatic relations with Turkey, saying: “We should immediately freeze economic relations with Turkey, diplomatic ties may be halted as well”.

Kalashnikov proposed to summon the Russian ambassador in Turkey to Moscow for the consultations and to talk to the Turkish ambassador in Russia. The Russian lawmaker added that the downing of the Russian jet over Syria by a Turkish F-16 may be a provocation as it happened precisely on the day when French President Francois Hollande and U.S. President Barack Obama were discussing the fight against Islamic State.

CH/L – nsnbc 24.11.2015

Source Article from http://nsnbc.me/2015/11/24/turkey-downs-russian-su-24-unacceptable-stab-in-the-back-putin/

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