Turkish forces shoot down Russian jet on the border of Syria

The Russian ministry posted a statement saying that one of its SU-24 jets had “according to preliminary information” been shot down “as a result of fire from the ground” over Syria.

“On November 24, 2015 at around 09.20 a.m, a plane whose nationality is not known violated the Turkish airspace despite several warnings (10 times within five minutes) in the area of Yayladagi, Hatary”, the military said before the plane’s nationality was confirmed. Other news footage shows the plane’s two pilots ejecting and using parachutes before impact.

A Turkish government official could not confirm the report.

Russia’s defence ministry said the aircraft did not violate Turkish airspace. “This has been recorded by objective means of control”, the official said.

Russian Federation denies that the plane crossed the Syrian border into Turkish skies.

Two pilots can be seen making a safe landing with their parachutes in a video released by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was briefed by the head of the military, while Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu ordered consultations with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the United Nations and related countries, their respective offices said.

The jet crashed in Syria, near a Turkmen mountain village where Russian and Syrian air raids have been ongoing over the past few days.

The visit was meant to be part of a meeting of the High-Level Russian-Turkish Cooperation Council’s (ÜDİK), Hurriyet Daily News reported.

“We know for sure that the plane was in Syria’s air space, above Syria’s territory”, he added.