Turkey won’t back down, refusing to apologize to Russia for shooting down a warplane operating over their country, the Turkish prime minister said Monday, stressing that the military was doing its job defending the country’s airspace.
Ahmet Davutoglu also said Turkey hopes Moscow will reconsider economic sanctions announced against Turkish interests following last week’s incident. The Turkish resort town of Antalya is “like a second home” to many Russian holidaymakers, he said, but refused to yield on Turkish security.
“No Turkish prime minister or president will apologize … because of doing our duty,” Davutoglu told reporters after meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels.
“Protection of Turkish airspace, Turkish borders is a national duty, and our army did their job to protect this airspace. But if the Russian side wants to talk, and wants to prevent any future unintentional events like this, we are ready to talk.”
Turkish F-16s shot down a Russian warplane on Nov. 24, sparking Cold War-style tensions between Russia and NATO, of which Turkey is a member. One of the Russian pilots was killed, while a second was rescued.
On Monday, the body of Lt. Col. Oleg Peshkov, the Russian pilot, was flown back to Russia following a military ceremony in the Turkish capital, Ankara, Turkey’s military said.
The Russian air force said Monday that its Su-34 fighter-bombers in Syria were now armed with air-to-air missiles for defense. Air force spokesman Col. Igor Klimov said the missiles have a range of about 60 kilometers (35 miles), Russian news agencies reported.
Russia began airstrikes in Syria on Sept. 30 that it says are focused on fighters of the Islamic State group. But some observers say Russia is targeting other rebel groups to bolster the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Russia insists that the plane that was shot down didn’t intrude on Turkish airspace.
Douglas Lute, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, said he saw American data which “corroborates Turkey’s version of events. So the airplane was in Turkey, it was engaged in Turkey.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday called for sanctions against Turkey including bans on some Turkish goods and extensions on work contracts for Turks working in Russia. The measures also call for ending chartered flights from Russia to Turkey and for Russian tourism companies to stop selling vacation packages that would include a stay in Turkey.
The Associated Press contributed to this article
“Protection of Turkish airspace, Turkish borders is a national duty, and our army did their job to protect this airspace”.
What a novel idea. Wonder why the US President can’t see that.
Because they have lost any sense of being responsible for American security instead of global security. And the d-rats need to enlarge their shrinking voting base by total disregard of immigration laws and practices. In addition they have become isolated from the voters with a “moat” of money so they can get re-elected time and time again. The public be damned! Full tax and spend ahead! Everyone has heard of child abuse, elder abuse, spouse abuse. The biggest and most prevlent form of abuse in America now is citizen abuse by our govt. The govt is a govt by Obama, of the muslims in the WH and for muslims and illegal immigrants. And themselves. What a radical departure from a govt by the people, of the people and for the people. This is the new ABC of govt in DC. Anybody But Citizens!
We need to bombard our congressmen with phone calls and emails in order to demand respect and service for the citizens that elected them. Their contact information is on the Internet. Also next time vote. Staying home does not solve anything. Apathy is worse than ignorance.
Suppose you put a No Trespassing sign on your property. Violators will be “shot.” Let’s say your neighbor brings over some of your mail that was left in his box. You look out the window to see who is at your door and you see it is your neighbor. You say to yourself, I put up a sign that says no trespassing, he can’t do that. You get your shotgun and shoot him through the front door and kill him. You may be right according to the law but do you think you did right?
If you are the president of Turkey, do you have the right to endanger the lives of your citizens? Do you have the right to endanger the lives of the NATO countries? This is what you have done. Russia is a superpower. They could overrun you in 15 minutes and take your country. They could just push a button and totally destroy your country with a nuclear weapon. They could do the same to all the NATO countries. Thank God Russia is slow to anger and can control themselves. Turkey reminds me of Iraq when Sadam was telling the world he would destroy the U.S. as U.S. tanks were encircling him on the news. Better think again “little guy.”