Turkey’s Dreams In Northwest Syria ‘Shattered’ By Russia; Syrian Diplomat Calls Russian Jet Down ‘War Crime’

Su-24 — A war plane crashing in flames in a mountainous area in northern Syria after it was shot down by Turkish fighter jets near the Turkish-Syrian border, is seen in this still image taken from video November 24, 2015. Turkish fighter jets shot down a Russian-made warplane near the Syrian border on Tuesday after repeatedly warning it over air space violations, Turkey officials said, but Moscow said it could prove the jet had not left Syrian air space. Turkish presidential sources said the warplane was a Russian-made SU-24. The Turkish military, which did not confirm the plane's origin, said it had been warned 10 times in the space of five minutes about violating Turkish airspace. Russia's defence ministry said one of its fighter jets had been downed in Syria, apparently after coming under fire from the ground, but said it could prove the plane was over Syria for the duration of its flight, Interfax news agency reported. REUTERS/Reuters TV/Haberturk TV

Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Walid al-Moallem said Turkey is not happy with the progress the Syrian Arab Army made with the help of Russia. He called Turkey’s decision to shoot down a Russian aircraft as a war crime.

Al-Moallem, who is also the foreign and expatriates minister, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s dreams in northwest Syria were shattered by the Assad army’s progress on the ground. It also shows the whole world Turkey’s support for terrorist groups, he said.

According to Al-Moallem, there is complete coordination between Syria and Russia regarding matters related to fighting terrorism, SANA reported. He said Russia was able to outdo the U.S.-led coalition in counterterrorism efforts. Russia has done in two months what the United States could not do in 18 months, he added.

The Russian minister held a meeting with Speaker of the Russian State Duma Sergey Naryshkin. He explained to the Russian diplomat that the combined effort of Damascus and Moscow destroyed hundreds of fuel tanks, command centers and depots while destroying more than a thousand tankers of stolen Syrian oil.

Al-Moallem said progress by Syria and Russia against Islamic State militants had made Ankara angry, which eventually resulted in shooting down the Russian Su-24. He said such behavior from Turkey had not come as a surprise.

Turkey earlier released an audio recording to prove its claim that its authorities had warned the Russian pilots multiple times before gunning the warplane down.

"You are approaching Turkish airspace, change your heading," the warning message in English says.

The Turkish armed forces said the warnings had not been issued by pilots but by the Diyarbakir airbase, Al Jazeera reported. The rescued Russian pilot, however, said there was no warning.

"I could perfectly see on the map and on the ground where the border was and where we were," Konstantin Murakhtin told Russian journalists in Syria.