The Turkish government has downed a Russian jet, officials from both governments confirmed. The pilots are believed to have survived.
Officials in Turkey maintain that the fighter plane was given due warning that it was in Turkish airspace before it was fired upon – while Russia insists that the plane was not in Turkey’s airspace.
The confrontation has been boiling for some time – last month, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president, warned that “we cannot endure” further Russian incursions into Turkish airspace. But the downing of the plane raises the possibility of a wider conflict with Russia. Turkey, like the United Kingdom, is a NATO member, and under the rules of that organisation, an attack on that country is an attack on all members of the organisation.
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