The Turkish government said it downed a Russian warplane on Tuesday after it violated Turkey’s airspace and ignored 10 warnings.
Turkey said the violation lasted just seventeen seconds.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, “Our plane was downed over Syrian territory by an air-to-air missile from a Turkish F-16 jet.”
We do not want to say who is telling the truth because there is no evidence to prove either side’s claims.
The question is even if the Russian fighter jet violated Turkey’s airspace was it wise to target it?
At a time that terrorists are butchering civilians in one country after another, including Turkish and Russian civilians in the ground and on the air, downing the Russian warplane would only complicate the situation in Syria and hearten terrorists.
The remarks by the NATO secretary general were not also encouraging. Though urging “calm and de-escalation” of the situation, Jens Stoltenberg said, “As we have repeatedly made clear, we stand in solidarity with Turkey and support the territorial integrity of our NATO ally, Turkey.”
Making such remarks at such a sensitive juncture will revive the Cold War rhetoric that may even embolden Turkey.
In light of such events the world should not be surprised if terrorists take more tolls on civilians in Syria and other parts of the world. The fact that terrorists have become so powerful and turned some parts of Syria and Iraq into a hell is that they have taken advantage of the blind rivalry between countries.
More dangerously there is a fear that that Syria turn into a scene of hostile rivalries and the conflict in the country blow out of control.
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