Pretoria - The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed serious concern over the downing of a Russian military jet by the Turkish Air Force along Syria’s border on Tuesday.
Ban has urged all relevant parties to take urgent measures with a view to quell tensions, his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
“He hopes that a credible and thorough review of the incident will clarify the events and help prevent future recurrences.
“As he reiterated a number of times, all those who are engaged in military activities in Syria, especially air campaigns, need to maximise operational measures to avoid unintended consequences and, of course and most importantly, to do whatever they can to avoid civilian casualties and to protect civilians.”
Turkish fighters shot down the Russian Su-24 warplane after issuing numerous warnings about the plane's alleged violation of its airspace.
The Su-24 was shot down while returning to Syria's Hmeimim airbase, where a Russian air force group for anti-terrorist strikes is located.
The UN chief believes that Tuesday’s “worrying development” underscores the importance of international unity and cooperation in international action against violent extremists in the region, as well as the urgent need to agree on a political solution to the tragic events in Syria.
Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned Turkey for shooting down a Russian Su-24 while Turkish military attributes the incident to the jet's repeated violation of Turkey's airspace.
"The Russian pilots and the warplane have in no way threatened Turkey. This is obvious," Putin said Tuesday, describing the incident as "a stab in the back".
Putin said the incident would have serious consequences for Moscow-Ankara relations as "Russia would not tolerate crimes like what happened today".
Turkey has turned to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and requested to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the incident and to "see their assessment of these provocative and inadmissible actions of the Turkish side". - SAnews.gov.za-Xinhua
