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Su-24 plane incident puts Russia-Turkey relations on brink of war

Türkiye Materials 24 November 2015 19:18 (UTC +04:00)
The incident with the Russian Su-24, which was shot down on Syria-Turkey border Nov. 24, puts Russia-Turkey relations on the brink of war
Su-24 plane incident puts Russia-Turkey relations on brink of war

Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

The incident with the Russian Su-24, which was shot down on Syria-Turkey border Nov. 24, puts Russia-Turkey relations on the brink of war, Mikhail Remizov, the president of the Russian National Strategy Institute, said.

"Taking into account that Turkey is a NATO member, all efforts will be taken to avoid this," he said in an interview with Trend. "This is possible only in case of profound arguments that such incidents will not reoccur in the future. And this is possible only in case of the guarantees of exchanging the information and cooperation through the military departments, which would rule out such cases."

The expert said that Turkey deliberately downed a Russian warplane and assumes the responsibility for the incident with pleasure.

He said that this is an overt public challenge against Russia and Russia must react toughly.

"I think that putting Russian armed forces on a war footing is timely now," said Remizov.

Commenting on the statements of the Turkish side that the plane violated Turkish airspace, he said that in a war zone, there are cases when the aircraft is specially driven to the border and cooperation of the military departments, which the Turks refused from, is necessary to avoid collisions.

"There is no feeling that Turkey wants to avoid these incidents, there is such a sense that Turkey, by contrast, wants to create a precedent which Russia wouldn't want to reply, but which will become a serious blow to its international reputation," said the analyst.

He went on to add that now the main question is how NATO will act in this situation. Remizov said that it cannot be excluded that the decision to shoot down the plane was agreed upon between the Turks and the Americans.

"The Turks, of course, do not expect a military response, but at the same time it is a way to send a signal that there will be no compromise, so Russia must withdraw from the conflict [in Syria], incurring reputation losses," he said. "I think that the United States and Turkey are counting on the fact that Moscow will accept that unspoken offer," he said.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova

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