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Updated 2.25pm
TURKEY HAS CONFIRMED that it shot down a Russian warplane, claiming it had violated Turkish airspace and ignored repeated warnings.
Russia is denying that the plane crossed the Syrian border into Turkish skies.
This afternoon, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the incident would have “serious consequences” for ties between Turkey and Russia, AFP reports.
The shooting down of the plane was “a stab in the back committed by accomplices of terrorists,” Putin said at a meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah II in Moscow, said AFP.
“We are looking into the circumstances of the crash of the Russian jet,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said earlier today.
“The Ministry of Defense would like to stress that the plane was over the Syrian territory throughout the flight.”
Putin said the plane did not “in an way threaten Turkey”.
Nato has called an emergency meeting in Brussels over the incident.
Russia said the Su-24 was downed by artillery fire, but Turkey claimed that its F-16s fired on the Russian plane after it ignored several warnings.
The ministry said the pilots parachuted but added that Moscow had no further contact with them.
AFP reports that one was found dead by Syrian opposition forces.
Footage
Video footage of the incident showed a warplane on fire before crashing on a hill and two crew members apparently parachuting safely.
Turkey’s private Dogan news agency said two Russian helicopters, flying low over the Turkmen Bayirbucak region, searched for the two pilots.
A Turkish military statement said the plane entered Turkish airspace over town of Yaylidag, in Hatay province.
“The plane violated Turkish air space 10 times in five minutes despite warnings,” the army said in a statement, adding it was shot down at 0724 GMT “according to the rules of engagement”, said AFP.
Russia summoned the Turkish military attache in Moscow while Ankara summoned Moscow’s charge d’affaires to the foreign ministry.
“Everyone must know that it is our international right and national duty to take any measure against whoever violates our air or land borders,” Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said.
On Friday, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador demanding that Russia cease operations in Syria targeting Turkmen villages, saying the Russian actions did not “constitute a fight against terrorism” but the bombing of civilians.
Ambassador Andrey Karlov was warned during the meeting that the Russian operations could lead to serious consequences, the ministry said.
Troops
Syrian troops have been on the offensive in the area that is controlled by several insurgent groups including al-Qaida’s branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, and the 2nd Coastal Division that consists of local Turkmen fighters.
Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the warplane crashed in the Turkmen Mountains region in the coastal province of Latakia.
The Turkomen Mountains region has been subjected to a government offensive in recent days under the cover of Russian airstrikes.
Last month, Turkish jets shot down an unidentified drone that it said had violated Turkey’s airspace.
Originally published 10.12am. Additional reporting - © AFP, 2015
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fantastic news, the economy is booming. a shinner will be along shortly now with doom and gloom LOL
@Jayo Breathneach: the property crash wasn’t caused by outside investors. It was by people taking out too big mortgages. Maybe you move in the wrong circles if you can’t afford a house
the issue i have is that the SDZ rules have been thrown at the window…I live in Adamstown and I am happy to see development start again Im dissaappointed that the amenities like the parks and town centre are on hold. It worries me that they will never be built. Even the PR piece about the community centre is kind of false…what is being built is a sports hall for the secondary school which can act as a community center.
It worries me that Adamstown will turn into another Lucan where people have to travel to do things as all that was built in Lucan was houses.
Adamstown was supposed to be a self contained town where all amenties would be near by and within walking distance. Now Its just going to become another Housing estate
No housing for 10 yrs, creates a drought! Available housing gifted to vulture funds at exchequers expense. Housing shortage creates property price bubble, banks balance sheets improves exponentially! Cheerleaders of austerity clap themselves on the back, while young people forced to rent for extended period to gather sufficient funds for a deposit! Same aul Fianna Gael, keep pretending the recovery is going! Check out the debt clock, 200 billions and counting!
All the lost money is back in play .who lifted the flooring boards
@Jayo Breathneach: so many people just comment for the sake of making noise. You will be preaching again shortly about the lack of available houses. There is no bubble, we are well short of peak price of the boom and if we’re to going into a bubble we would be adding another 10% to that due to population increase.
The problem isn’t housing, we have plenty of empty houses in this country. The problem is the total failure by the government to build sustainable economies outside of Dublin. If you talk to most people who moved from different parts of the island to Dublin for work, they would love to move back home but there are no jobs in their field outside Dublin. Invest in areas outside Dublin, people can start moving into empty homes down the country and puts less pressure on rents and the price of houses in Dublin
@Dark Knight: move the capital to the midlands?
@kevin: They did that in Oz actually.
Great to see the economy back in action !
Thnks to Noonan???
There is a lot of comments that would be getting red thumped today.
have your say