Syria–Turkey relations

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his country's air force did not know that the plane they shot down on Tuesday was Russian when, according to RT.

In addition, Erdogan said that Turkey "does not want escalation with Russia because of the downed plane."

Two Russian warplanes violated Turkish national airspace for 17 seconds, flying 1.36 miles into Turkish borders on Nov. 24, Turkey has reported in a letter to the United Nations Security Council. According to the letter, one plane left Turkish territory after multiple warnings, while the other was fired at and subsequently downed by Turkish F-16 jets after ignoring the repeated warnings.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday at 5pm after Turkey shot down a Russian jet fighter, because it violated its airspace, as Turkey claims.

Turkey downed a Russian-made fighter jet due to an airspace violation on the morning of Nov. 24, but tension on Turkey's border with Syria has been high since 2012, when Syria downed a Turkish jet leading to the death of two pilots.  

The Turkmens of the Bay?rbucak region in northwest Syria are subject to the attacks of Bashar al-Assad and Russian forces not only because they are Turkmens but also because their strategic location is extremely important. 

Around 1,500 members of Syria's Turkmen minority have fled to the Turkish border to escape renewed fighting in the northwest of the country, a Turkish official said Nov. 22.

Around one-third of a wall to be built along the Turkish-Syrian border in the southern Turkish town of Reyhanl? has been completed, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.

Russia should "immediately give up harassing" the Turkish border and step back if violations of airspace were mistakes, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmu? said on Oct. 9.

Relations between Turkey and Russia should not be sacrificed for the sake of political interests in Syria, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmu? told Anadolu Agency.

Moscow would lose a lot if it destroyed its friendship with Ankara, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has said following recent violations of Turkey's airspace close to the border with Syria by Russian combat aircraft.

Russia is Turkey?s northern neighbor and a serious military confrontation between the two has recently broken out on Turkey?s southern border with Syria.