“This was a stab in the back that will definitely affect the Russian-Turkish relations,” – announced recently the President of Russia Vladimir Putin commenting the shot down of Russian “Su-24” aircraft. Putin insists that at the moment of shooting, the Russian aircraft was about one kilometer from the Turkish border, in the Syrian airspace, and the aircraft was no threat to Turkey, and the target of air shootings was the militants of the “Islamic state” group centralized in the north of Latakia, most of which have arrived in Syria from Russia.
Putin made it clear that Turkey, acting against the Russian air force, pursues an economic benefit. “We established a long time ago that large quantities of oil and oil products from territory captured by Islamic State have been arriving on Turkish territory. And now we get stabbed in our back and our planes, which are fighting terrorism, are struck.” What happened, of course, will affect the relations between Ankara and Moscow, and not only. The fight against the “Islamic State” group, on the one hand, it seems that a new serious problem arose, where the players in the region are facing a new imperative to clarify the relations between each other, which first of all complicates the degree of trust in the relations.
“Today’s tragic incident will have serious consequences for Russian-Turkish relations. We were always perceiving Turkey not as a close neighbor but also as a friendly state. Immediately after the incident, however, Turkey, instead of having a direct connection with us, according to our sources, has applied to its NATO counterparts, suggesting to discuss the created situation. It’s as if we shot down a Turkish plane rather than them shooting down one of ours. What do they want? To put NATO at Islamic State’s disposal?” said Putin. Ankara’s official reaction is based on defending the security of country’s borders. Turkish President Erdoğan issued a statement, noting that everyone should respect the Turkey’s right to defend its borders. Erdoğan held an extraordinary meeting on security issues after shooting down “Russian Su-24” warplane, later he announced that the Russian aircraft has ignored the warnings “10 times in 5 minutes”.
In his words, the Turkish fighter jets have acted by all rules of engagement of forces. The Prime Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoğlu, commented on the incident with “SU-24” aircraft at the border with Syrian, announced that Turkey has the right to respond to violations of its air space. Davutoğlu has made this statement when announcing the composition of the new government. Davutoğlu has emphasized that Turkey will do its utmost to ensure the security of the country. In his words, Turkey “does not long for” territories of any country and is entitled to respond to the violations of its land and air borders in every way. The tension in Russian-Turkish relations, as it could be predicted, has caused great turmoil in the Armenian reality.
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Analyses are carried out, interpretations are voiced about the reasons for the stance of Turkey and the escalation of Turkish-Russian relations. A few hours after the destruction of “Su-24” aircraft, the Russian propaganda machine was put into action, and, of course, Moscow’s love towards Armenia and Armenians was manifested. Russian propaganda “giant”, presenter of “Russia Today” TV program, Dmitry Kiselyov, recommended Russians to rest in Armenia instead of Turkey, forgetting about how not in the far past he was offended of the fact that the Armenian taxi driver does not speak Russian, and showing his “ingratitude” on this.
The leader of Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, at the special broadcast of the TV program “The Evening with Vladimir Solovyov” (Вечер с Владимиром Соловьевым), forgot how he recently admired the “wonderful” country of Azerbaijan and his “faithful” and “predictable” partner, President Aliyev. Now, Zhirinovsky not only criticizes Turkey for shooting down the Russian aircraft but also reminds that throughout the history of Turkey he has always hated Russia and has acted against it. Therefore, he recommends giving an end to Turkey by our hands. “Turkey’s issue should be solved and do it by someone else’s hands. Armenians hate Turks, if we allow them to liberate their western territories, they will do it with pleasure. Armenians have already done it in 1918, but Moscow did not help and again passed to the Turkish side.”
In other words, now Russia is “for the side” of Armenia. Therefore, in fact, it requires just a destruction of “Su-24” aircraft. Hopefully, nothing will prevent Armenia-Russia “strategic” relationships. And if one more event obstructs the fulfillment of the Russo-Azerbaijani multi-billion dollar arms sales agreements, as they say, we can fully feel ourselves in the paradise. Even if just for a short period of time. Indeed, the historical moment has matured to write lengthy letters to Putin. We need to hurry as long as Russia and Turkey have not “reconciled”.
Emma GABRIELYAN
“Aravot” daily
