Turkey has scrambled two F-16 jets to intercept a Russian warplane and fly it back into Syria after it violated Turkish airspace.
In a statement, Turkey’s foreign ministry said the Russian plane was spotted in airspace near the town of Yayladagi, in Hatay province near the country’s border with Syria on Saturday.
Turkey has since summoned Russia’s ambassador over the violation of its airspace, demanding that Moscow avoid any future violations and warned that Russia will be held “responsible for any undesired incident” that may occur, the statement released on Monday said.
The British Ambassador, Richard Moore, has described Russia's actions as "reckless and worrying".
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was given the same message in a telephone call from his Turkish counterpart Feridun Sinirlioglu, while Turkey’s Nato partners have also been consulted.
In a separate incident, Turkey’s military said an MIG-29 jet had harassed two Turkish F-16s for five minutes and 40 seconds on Sunday by locking its radar on them while they were patrolling the Turkish-Syrian border. The military stated it does not know which country the harassing plane belonged to.
Russia has not yet commented on Turkey’s statement. President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov instead told reporters that Russia is looking into reports that the Turkish airspace was violated.
“The reports will be checked so I cannot say anything at the moment.”
In an interview with HaberTurk TV on Monday however, Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Moscow had described the airspace violation as a “mistake”.
Davutoglu added that the crisis in Syria has been escalated by Russia’s involvement in air strikes.
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan has heavily criticised Russia’s involvement in air strikes in Syria over the past week, which have been seen by western powers as means of support for President Bashar al-Assad instead of being aimed at Islamic State militants.
Erdogan branded Russia’s actions in Syria a “grave mistake” and was quoted in the Hurriyet newspaper as saying: “Assad has committed state terrorism, and unfortunately you find Russia and Iran defending [him].
“Those countries that collaborate with the regime will account for its history,” he reportedly told supporters in France on Sunday night.
