NATO denounces Russian incursion into Turkish airspace

ISTANBUL: The United States and its NATO allies denounced Russia yesterday for violating Turkish airspace along the frontier with Syria, and Ankara threatened to respond if provoked again, raising the prospect of direct confrontation between the Cold War enemies.
NATO held an emergency meeting of ambassadors of its 28 member states to respond to what Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called ‘unacceptable violations of Turkish airspace’ after Turkey said a Russian jet had crossed its frontier.

NATO members ‘strongly protest’ and ‘condemn’ incursions into Turkish and NATO territory, the alliance said. “Allies also note the extreme danger of such irresponsible behaviour. They call on the Russian Federation to cease and desist, and immediately explain these violations,” it said in a statement released after the meeting in Brussels.

Moscow’s unexpected move last week to launch air strikes in Syria has brought the greatest threat of an accidental clash between Russian and Western forces since the Cold War.

Russian war planes and those of the United States and its allies are now flying combat missions over the same country for the first time since World War Two, with Moscow repeatedly targeting insurgents trained and armed by Washington’s allies.

Turkey, a NATO member with the alliance’s second biggest army, scrambled two F-16 jets on Saturday after a Russian aircraft crossed into its airspace near its southern province of Hatay, the Turkish foreign ministry said.

Turkey summoned Moscow’s ambassador to protest against violation and said Russia would be held ‘responsible for any undesired incident that may occur’ if it were repeated. Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu spoke with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, as well as key NATO partners.