Turkey's NATO ambassador defends downing of Russian fighter jet
- 8 years ago
Tensions are running high between Ankara and Moscow after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet. To shed further light on the issue, euronews reporter Gülsüm Alan spoke to Mehmet Fatih Ceylan, Turkey’s ambassador to Nato.
Gülsüm Alan, euronews: “Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has described the incident as a planned provocation.
How do you react to that?
Mehmet Fatih Ceylan, Turkish Ambassador to NATO: “It is impossible to agree with the statement of Foreign Minister Lavrov. This is not a cold planned provocation by Turkey. Now let’s see what happened yesterday.
“First and foremost I have to make it clear that this incident took place in our airspace. There were two planes, they were warned 10 times within 5 minutes, 10 times, not to enter into Turkish airspace but they did, and when they entered and violated our airspace, then they were engaged by our F16s that were on patrol duty there. One left our airspace, but the other remained in our airspace, then it was shot do
Gülsüm Alan, euronews: “Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has described the incident as a planned provocation.
How do you react to that?
Mehmet Fatih Ceylan, Turkish Ambassador to NATO: “It is impossible to agree with the statement of Foreign Minister Lavrov. This is not a cold planned provocation by Turkey. Now let’s see what happened yesterday.
“First and foremost I have to make it clear that this incident took place in our airspace. There were two planes, they were warned 10 times within 5 minutes, 10 times, not to enter into Turkish airspace but they did, and when they entered and violated our airspace, then they were engaged by our F16s that were on patrol duty there. One left our airspace, but the other remained in our airspace, then it was shot do