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Ergodan, Lavrov: No war
Turkey’s Erdogan says he does not want escalation after Russian jet downedPresident Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Turkey did not want any escalation after it shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border, saying it had simply acted to defend its own security and the “rights of our brothers” in Syria. But while neither side has shown any interest in a military escalation, Russia has made clear it will exact economic revenge through trade and tourism. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday that important joint projects could be cancelled and Turkish firms could lose Russian market share. The downing of the jet on Tuesday was one of the most serious publicly acknowledged clashes between a NATO member and Russia for half a century, and further complicated international efforts to battle Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants in Syria. More at the link Lavrov: No war with Turkey over ‘planned provocation’ jet downing Russia’s foreign minister on Wednesday said the downing of its fighter jet by Turkey appeared to be a “planned provocation” but said the countries would not go to war over the incident. “We have serious doubts about this being an unpremeditated act, it really looks like a planned provocation,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow after speaking with Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu. “We do not plan to go to war with Turkey, our attitude toward the Turkish people has not changed,” Lavrov added, stressing that Moscow would however “seriously reevaluate” its ties with Ankara. “Such attacks are absolutely unacceptable,” he said. Lavrov also backed a proposal by French President Francois Hollande to close off the Syrian-Turkish border to prevent fighters from flooding into Syria, saying the idea may be raised by Hollande during his visit to Moscow on Thursday. Russian authorities reacted furiously to the downing of the Russian Su-24 warplane on the Syrian border on Tuesday, with President Vladimir Putin calling it a “stab in the back committed by accomplices of terrorists.” Ankara and Moscow are already on rival sides in the Syrian civil war that has lasted over four years, with Turkey wanting to see the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad while Russia remains one of his last remaining allies. More at this link, too. Posted by: badanov 2015-11-26 |
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