Russia not planning war against Turkey
Date
11/26/2015 3:35:47 AM
(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Russia will not take military action against Turkey over the downing of a Russian warplane Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday.
However he warned that Moscow could not “leave what has happened unanswered”.
Speaking at a televised news conference in Moscow Lavrov said Russia was “not planning to wage a war against Turkey” over Tuesday’s downing of a SU-24 bomber on the Turkey-Syria border.
“Our attitude towards Turkish people has not changed. We have questions only for the Turkish leadership.”
On the instructions of President Vladimir Putin “the government is revising the whole agenda of cooperation with Turkey” the foreign minister added.
He said Russia did not want to “artificially create problems for Turkish producers and exporters who do not bear responsibility for what has happened” or for Russian businesses trading with Turkey.
“But we cannot leave what has happened unanswered and not because we necessarily have to respond by doing something” he warned.
Turkey and Russia have significant trade ties particularly in the tourism food and energy sectors and Turkey buys around 60 percent of its natural gas from Russia. The countries are also involved in a number of major projects most notably the TurkStream gas pipeline and the construction of a nuclear power station.
Lavrov said there were “too many factors” in Turkey that posed a threat to Russian nationals.
Following the cancellation of his visit to Istanbul that had been due to take place Wednesday Lavrov said there were no current plans for meetings between senior Turkish and Russian officials.
Referring to a telephone call with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu Lavrov said Russia was not seeking to avoid contact with Turkey.
He said Cavusoglu had claimed the Turkish forces did not know they were targeting a Russian aircraft as Syrian warplanes were also operating in the area. The Syrian Air Force operates SU-24 aircraft as well.
Cavusoglu reiterated Turkey’s right to defend its borders Lavrov said and had reminded him of previous warnings made by Turkey over airspace violations.
However he insisted the Russian plane was in Syrian airspace. He said Cavusoglu had said the bomber entered Turkish airspace for 17 seconds.
Lavrov called the downing of the SU-24 a “planned provocation” and repeated Russian claims that the aircraft had been combatting terrorists including some from Russia who posed a threat to Russians.
The SU-24 was shot down after being intercepted by two patrolling Turkish F-16s acting within Turkey’s rules of engagement.
The Russian aircraft was warned about the violation 10 times within five minutes before it was shot down. NATO has confirmed the accuracy of information shared by Turkey about the violation.
In early October Russian warplanes twice breached Turkish airspace. Russian officials apologized and pledged that no such incident would be repeated.
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