Turkey Accuses Russia of Violating Its Airspace Again

Turkey is accusing Russia of again violating its airspace and warned it would “face consequences” if such infringements continue.

The Turkish foreign ministry said a Russian jet flew into its airspace on the border with Syria on January 29. Moscow described the claim as “baseless propaganda”.

Tensions between Turkey and Russia have been high since November, when Turkey shot down a Russian jet.

Russia has been carrying out air strikes in Syria since September.

It has been targeting forces fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, its ally.

In a statement, the Turkish foreign ministry said a Russian SU-34 jet crossed into Turkish airspace at 11:46 local time on January 29, ignoring several warnings made in Russian and English.

It said the ministry had summoned the Russian ambassador in Ankara to “strongly protest at and condemn” the incident.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on January 30 that Russia would “have to face consequences if it keeps up such violations”.

“Such irresponsible steps do not benefit either the Russian Federation, or Russia-NATO relations, or regional and global peace,” he told reporters.

Recep Tyyip Erdogan said he had asked repeatedly for a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, without success.

On January 30, NATO – of which Turkey is a member – urged Russia “to act responsibility and to fully respect NATO airspace” and “take all necessary measures to ensure that such violations do not happen again”.

Relations between Russia and Turkey, a vocal opponent of Bashar al-Assad, plummeted after Turkish F-16s shot down a Russian SU-24 on November 24.

Turkey said the plane intruded into its airspace and ignored repeated warnings to leave.

Russia insisted the jet had never crossed over from Syrian territory and did not receive any warnings.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin embarked on a war of words and Russia introduced a raft of sanctions designed to damage Turkey’s economy.