Turkish border patrol jets intercepted a Russian fighter jet that has violated the country's airspace last weekend on Oct. 3, Saturday.

CNN reported that Turkey called the Russian ambassador and that Turkey condemned and warned the Russian Federation that it will be responsible for any undesired incident that my occur because of the said violation.

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The airspace violation occurred in the region of Yayladagi, which is in the southern Hatay province. The Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said that Russia admitted the violation as "a mistake" due to "navigational error."

Nevertheless, according to Mmegi Online, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) called the Russian violation as a "grave mistake," and that representatives of NATO's 28 member states would meet later to discuss it.

The Russian jet then exited the Turkish airspace into Syria after it was intercepted by two of Turkish's F-16s from its air force. These fighter jets conducted patrols in the said region. The violation was then clarified to Ankara by Russia and added that it respected the Turkish borders and the error will not be repeated in future.

Russian's air campaign began on Sep. 30, Wednesday, with Moscow saying that it was targeting Islamic State positions as well as those of other extremists. One of those targets was a communications center in Homs and a command center in Latakia.

Davutoglu added though that Turkey will warn any violators of their borders and airspace in a friendly manner, as their rules of engagement are clear. Also, there is no tension between the two countries, and Syria is not their crisis. However, the two are at odds with regard to the bloody civil war that is currently raging in Syria.

Ankara's position is that Bashar Al-Assad, the Syrian President, should end the conflict. It is because Turkey and other United States-led coalition asserted that Russian intervention in this crisis will further escalate the civil war and will risk in driving more recruits to the extremist group.

 

TagsFighter Jets, F-16, Turkey, airspace, NATO