Drone shot down in Turkey was made in Russia: Turkish PM
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu says the unmanned aerial vehicle recently shot down by Turkey’s fighter jets near the border with Syria was Russian-built, despite Moscow’s insistence that the aircraft did not belong to its military forces.
“The downed drone is Russian-made, but Russia has told us in a friendly manner that it doesn't belong to them,” Davutoglu said in an interview with the Turkish-language A Haber satellite television news network on Monday.
He added the downing of the drone proved Turkey’s determination to respond to any violation of its airspace.
“This incident ... has shown that Turkey both has the capacity and the political will to put an end to such violations.
“I hope Russia, whose friendship and neighborliness we value, will adopt a more careful stance and Turkish-Russian relations will not be negatively affected,” Davutoglu pointed out.
On October 16, the Turkish military said it had shot down a drone in its airspace after warning it three times.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov announced later in the day that all its planes in Syria had safely returned to their base, and all its drones were operating “as planned.”
“All the Russian planes in Syria have returned to the Hmeimim air base after completing their tasks. Russian unmanned aerial vehicles monitoring the situation on the territory of Syria and carrying out air reconnaissance are working as normal,” Konashenkov said.
Russia began its own military campaign against terrorists in Syria on September 30 upon a request from the Damascus government, shortly after the upper house of the Russian parliament gave President Vladimir Putin the mandate to use military force in Syria.
The Russian Defense Ministry spokesman told reporters in Moscow on Monday that Russian warplanes had destroyed 49 positions of the Takfiri Daesh militants in Syria’s provinces of Aleppo, Damascus, Hama, Idlib and Latakia over the past 24 hours.
UN experts urge Israel to allow Freedom Flotilla’s ships to safely reach Gaza
Iraq won’t tolerate violation of its sovereignty, PM tells Erdogan
New Freedom Flotilla to set sail for Gaza in defiance of Israel's naval blockade
April 30: ‘Axis of Resistance’ operations against Israeli occupation
Leader calls for mounting pressure on Israel as Gaza first issue of world
Israel escalates arrest campaign in West Bank as several Palestinians nabbed in raids
Israeli genocide amid Olympic Games
Iran's Shiraz University to grant scholarships to expelled pro-Palestine students in US
Malaysian PM calls on Muslim states to remain 'firm' in bringing Israel to justice
Israel's planned Rafah invasion ‘completely unacceptable’: European Commission chief
VIDEO | University of Chicago joins nationwide anti-war protests
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
