Time to talk Turkey

The downing of Russia’s plane by Turkey ( BP, Nov 26) seems to be brash and likely to escalate tensions, in a region which is already brimming with conflict.

Turkey and Russia are not at war, and according to Ankara’s own version the Russian incursion lasted only 17 seconds. How did it pose a security threat? An airspace violation is not the rarest of the rare incident in the modern world; nor does every country use firepower to deal with such occurrences. Turkey itself has a long history of violating airspaces and coping with such incidents in its airspace diplomatically. Israel had violated Turkish airspace to bomb Syria in 2007.

Turkish and Greek planes violating each other’s airspace was quite common in recent years. Did Turkey use an F-16 to shoot down all those aircraft? More importantly, Syria is a complex war theatre where two coalitions consisting of dozens of countries and their proxies are fighting a jihadist group. Turkey, which at least on the record is part of the US-led coalition, should have acted as a responsible power.

It could have taken up the issue with Moscow and pushed diplomatically for solutions to prevent confrontations in the air. But by deciding to shoot down the Russian plane, Turkey has not only provoked Russia, but has played into the hands of those terrorist jidahists, making it harder to bring peace to Syria, therefore to other countries, which face millions of asylum seekers.

It is not a secret that Ankara has been a supporter of Syrian rebels since the beginning of the civil war. Four and a half years into the conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and led to the rise of the Islamic State, Turkey still appears to be obsessed with the removal of the Syrian president, Syria being a haven for global jihadism was caused by Turkey’s failure to seal its border, which became a transit point for militants from around the world. It also faces allegations, such as the one Russian President Vladimir Putin raised on Tuesday, that Turkish officials are facilitating oil trade for the IS, helping the group raise funds.

Turkey owes an apology to Russia, and should restrategise and lend its support to the world to eliminate terrorism!

R SRINATH