Nato rejects Russian claim violation of Turkish airspace accidental

Nato general secretary Jens Stoltenberg rejected claims by Russia that its incursion into Turkish airspace last weekend was accidental, amid claims that a Russian jet violated Turkish air space for a second time on Sunday.

Speaking in Brussels yesterday, the Nato chief said the alliance had not received “any real explanation” of what had happened last weekend when a Russian military jet entered Turkish airspace over its southern province of Hatay, prompting Ankara to scramble two F16 fighter jets.

“I will not speculate on the motives but this does not look like an accident . . . and we have two of them,” Mr Stoltenberg said.

While Nato had not yet had any direct contact with Moscow, the alliance had discussed the possibility of using its military lines of communication with Russia, he added.

Russia has claimed the incursion of one of its jets on Saturday was a “mistake”, with Russian news agencies reporting yesterday officials were looking into the claim a second incursion had occurred on Sunday.

The Russian defence ministry said the first incident had been accidental and that an Su-30 jet had entered Turkish airspace “for a few seconds”. It said “necessary measures” had been taken to ensure there would be no repeat incident.

Support for Assad

Mr Stoltenberg’s intervention marked the strongest comments yet by the defence body since Russia’s commencement of aerial bombardments in

Syria

last Wednesday in a bid to shore up support for President Bashar al-Assad.

The intervention by Russia in the five-year-old Syrian conflict has alarmed western powers, including Nato-member Turkey which is strongly opposed to the Assad regime.

In a significant ratcheting-up of pressure yesterday, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara could not accept Russian air strikes in Syria, warning that Russia may "lose Turkey", which enjoys good relations with Moscow, if it continues with air strikes.

Speaking following a meeting with Belgian prime minister Charles Michel in Brussels, the Turkish president said Russia's moves were "beyond the principles of Nato".

“Nato has issued a stern ultimatum. We cannot endure it. Some steps that we do not desire are being taken. It is not suitable for Turkey to accept them. This is also beyond the principles of Nato,” he said.

Russia rejected calls for a no-fly zone to be introduced in Syria yesterday, with deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov arguing that it would breach Syrian sovereignty and "is not based on the UN charter and international law".

Mr Erdogan used his visit to Brussels this week to call for the establishment of a no-fly zone over Syria, an idea opposed by many in the European community.

The Turkish president, who faces an election on November 1st, met the heads of the European Parliament, European Council and European Commission in Brussels to discuss ways of tackling the migrant crisis.

Mr Erdogan said on Monday that the “root cause” of the refugee crisis was the “state-sponsored terrorism actually carried out by Assad himself”.

Speaking in Strasbourg yesterday, where he updated the European Parliament on last month's EU summit on migration, EU Council president Donald Tusk told MEPs that Mr Erdogan informed him that three million more refugees could flee the civil war in Syria.

Solidarity urged

He called on the EU to move away from “internal disagreements and mutual recriminations” and show solidarity in the face of the migration crisis, though he stressed the need for the union to strengthen its external borders.

"Europe without its external borders will become a breeding ground for fear in each and every one of us. And this will lead us, sooner than later, to a political catastrophe."