WASHINGTON/ANKARA(SW): Hours after Turkey shootdown a Russian warplane along the Syria-Turkey border, U.S. President Barack Obama and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed on the need to de-escalate tensions and prevent further incidents.
The White House, in a statement late Tuesday, said the two leaders conferred by phone and voiced their commitment to developing a transitional political process for peace in Syria and international support for defeating Islamic State extremists. The statement also reiterated U.S. support for Turkey's right to defend its airspace.
Earlier Tuesday, Obama, speaking in Washington, cited the downing of the Russian plane as evidence of an "ongoing problem" with Russia's military operations in Syria.
Speaking alongside French President Francois Hollande at the White House, Obama said U.S. authorities were still collecting details of the shootdown, while noting that Russian military aircraft have been targeting moderate Syrian opposition groups very close to Turkey's borders, the Washington Post reported
Separately, Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose government insists the Russian jet never entered Turkish airspace, accused Ankara of "stabbing" Russia "in the back" with the shootdown, equating the Turkish action to supporting terrorism.
Turkey said the plane was shot down after it violated Turkish airspace and ignored 10 warnings to leave in a span of five minutes. Erdogan said his country made its "best efforts" to avoid such an incident, while insisting "everyone should respect the right of Turkey to defend its borders."
The Interfax news agency Tuesday evening quoted a spokesman for the Russian armed forces’ general staff, Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi, as saying that one of the two pilots of the Su-24 was apparently killed by ground fire after ejecting from the plane.
The military spokesman also said that a Russian marine was killed when an Mi-8 helicopter sent to rescue the downed pilots came under fire from rebel-controlled territory.
The downing brings renewed attention to a scenario feared for months by the Pentagon and its partners: a potential conflict arising from overlapping air missions over Syria — with Russia backing the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a U.S.-led coalition conducting airstrikes against the Islamic State.
Last month, NATO decried a “troubling escalation” by Russian forces in Syria and raised concerns about attack missions within sight of the Western alliance’s borders.
Although Turkey and the United States oppose Assad, their warplanes have avoided the Syrian leader’s military and are instead bombarding the Islamic State militant group, which controls parts of Syria and Iraq.
Russian aircraft have primarily hit non-Islamic State rebels, including some groups that are backed by the United States and Turkey.
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