Don’t play with fire, Turkey tells Russia

By Ralph Turchiano on November 27, 2015

November 28, 2015

ISTANBUL: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday warned Russia not to “play with fire” in a dispute over the downing of a Russian war plane this week, but added he did not want to harm relations with Moscow.
Erdogan made the comments in a speech in northeast Turkey broadcast live on television.
Erdogan said on Friday he wanted to meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the climate summit in Paris after the downing of a Russian warplane.
“I would like to meet him face to face on Monday,” Erdogan said.
“It was an automatic response to the air space violation,” Erdogan said. “Turkey did not deliberately down the Russian warplane.”
And he described Putin’s criticism of Ankara over the incident as “unacceptable.”
“Russia is obliged to prove its allegations, otherwise it will be considered a liar because of those grave and unfair accusations targeting Turkey.”
Erdogan said it was not the first time Russian jets had breached Turkish air space and that he had warned Putin about “ugly incidents” after two incursions in October.
The president also attacked Russia’s policy in Syria after it launched air strikes in September, accusing the Kremlin of backing the regime of “murderer” President Bashar Al Assad.
He claimed that the Russian air raids did not target the Daesh group.
“We are not blind to (Russian) cunning using the plane incident as a pretext” to prop up the Assad regime.
He said backing the regime in Damascus after more than four years of war that has killed 250,000 people was like “playing with fire.”
The Turkish strongman also struck back at Russian “slander” that Turkey was buying oil from the Daesh group.
“You must know that we are not as dishonourable as to buy oil from a terrorist organisation,” he said. “Turkey is buying oil from Russia.”
Erdogan labelled attempts to link his country with IS jihadists as “disrespectful” to Turkey.
Turkey denied Friday it had suspended air strikes against Daesh targets in syria after the downing of a Russian warplane on the Syrian border.
The Hurriyet newspaper said Turkey, a member of a US-led coalition fighting Daesh, had “temporarily” halted air raids against the group in syria in order to avoid any further crises.
“Both sides agreed to act cautiously until they re-establish dialogue channels to reduce tensions,” the paper said, citing security sources.
But a government official denied that strikes had been halted.
“At this time, Turkey remains fully committed to fighting Daesh as part of the international coalition,” he said.
“Our policy remains unchanged and the claims, therefore, are inaccurate.
“Turkey’s participation in coalition air strikes is determined by ourselves and our allies alone depending on mutual assessments of military developments on the ground and logistical needs.”
The jet incident risks harming the Syrian peace process, the United Nation’s top Syria diplomat said on Friday, speaking in Stockholm.
“It certainly did not help. There is a likelihood of it complicating this,” UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said about political negotiations over peace or a cease fire.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Friday sought to ease tensions with Moscow over the downing of a Russian warplane on the Syrian border, calling for unity against the Daesh group.
“While the measures to defend our territory will remain in place, Turkey will work with Russia and our allies to calm tensions,” Davutoglu wrote in Friday’s edition of The Times in London.