Russian Federation making ‘grave mistake’ in Syria: Turkey’s Erdogan

Neither country spoke about the second incident.

Over the last 24 hours, Russian Su-34, Su-24M and Su-25 planes hit nine ISIS targets in Syria, Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement Monday. Moscow asserts it is targeting only Islamic State positions, but reports indicate Russia has also bombed rebel groups that oppose Russian ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He called for Britain and other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies to stand “shoulder to shoulder with Turkey”.

“The Turkish Armed Forces are clearly instructed. Our rules of engagement are clear”.

According to a foreign ministry release, Turkish F-16 fighter has chased away Russian warplanes as they were violating Turkey’s air space on Saturday.

He said he had since intensified diplomatic discussions to ensure that there was no accidental conflict between Russian and coalition aircrafts over Syria.

Brussels and Ankara also reportedly discussed a European Commission plan that would see Turkey join Greek coastguard patrols in the eastern Aegean, co-ordinated by EU border agency Frontex. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the Russian ambassador had been summoned and said “some facts were mentioned there which are to be checked”, but gave no further details.

The undersecretary demanded that any such violation should not be repeated and warned that otherwise Russian Federation will be responsible for any undesired incident which may occur.

Turkey has become a key smuggling route for thousands of refugees seeking a better life in the European Union; about 630,000 people have entered the bloc illegally this year, many of them fleeing conflict in Syria and Afghanistan.

A security meeting was called for Monday evening in Ankara, with Davutoglu chairing it.

In this photo made from the footage taken from Russian Defense Ministry official website on Sunday, October 4, 2015, an aerial view of a bomb explosion in Syria.

Major-General Igor Konashenkov said he knew nothing about the second incursion on Sunday, but noted that measures “to prevent any such incidents in the future” had been taken.

On Friday, Turkey and its allies issued a joint statement asking Moscow to cease attacks on the Syrian opposition and to focus on fighting IS.

Turkey has labelled Russia’s bombing campaign in Syria as “unacceptable” with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warning that Moscow was making a “grave mistake”.

Russian warplanes have been flying over Syrian territory since Wednesday, conducting air strikes on what Moscow says are IS group targets in the country’s northern and central provinces.