Turkey is hoping Russia will “cool down” in their spat over a downed Russian warplane, which was shot out of the sky near the Syrian-Turkish border earlier this week.
Selcuk Unal, Turkey’s ambassador to Canada, says his country has reached out to Russia in an effort to defuse the situation, which he says was the result of a “communication mistake.” However, the Russians have rebuffed many of those efforts, stoking tensions in an already tense region of the world.
Turkey shot down the Russian Su-24 warplane on Tuesday, claiming that the jet had violated their airspace while refusing to answer their radio warnings. The Turkish government has released an audio recording of their alleged warning to the aircraft, which was one of two planes involved in the incident. The other jet left the area.
The downed plane's two crewmembers ejected and landed in in Syria, where one of them was killed by rebel militants. The other was rescued by Russian and Syrian forces, but a Russian marine was killed by militants during the operation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has denounced the attack as a “treacherous stab in the back,” while asserting that the plane was shot down in Syrian airspace. His government drafted up new economic sanctions against Turkey on Thursday, in retaliation for the attack.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has refused to apologize, and is standing by his country’s right to defend its airspace. He also vowed Turkey will shoot down any other intruders it sees in the future.
Unal says Erdogan tried to contact Putin, but his request was denied.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has refused to cast blame in the situation, despite Canada’s alliance with Turkey through NATO.
Unal says Turkish forces were only following the “rules of engagement” when they shot down the unidentified plane, after it refused to respond to hails. Unal says the planes were not using the NATO friend-or-foe frequency to identify themselves as harmless, so Turkish military were forced to respond to what they perceived as a threat.
“We just had to think that these were probably Syrian planes,” Unal told CTV’s Power Play on Thursday. “We have so many unidentified planes coming in, and we always have to suspect them.”
Unal added that one of the two Russian jets continued on its path “despite 10 warnings in five minutes,” which left Turkey with no choice but to attack. “Should they have obeyed our rules of engagement, this accident would not have happened,” Unal said.
Turkey has been participating for months in the U.S.-led bombing campaign against the Islamic State in Syria. Russia is also dropping bombs on ISIS.
Canada would be required to intervene if Turkey comes under military attack, as part of its duties through NATO.
Unal says he believes NATO can help resolve the situation through mediation.
“What we are trying to do is to defuse this crisis,” he said.
