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Title: Russia Says Turkey's Attack On Jet Was "Planned Provocation" As Ankara Moves Tanks Near Syrian Border
Source: [None]
URL Source: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015- ... -ankara-moves-tanks-near-syria
Published: Nov 25, 2015
Author: td
Post Date: 2015-11-25 10:15:07 by HAPPY2BME-4UM
Keywords: None
Views: 62
Comments: 9

On Tuesday evening, we took a close look at the circumstances surrounding Turkey’s decision to shoot down a Russian Su-24 near the Syrian border. The incident was the most meaningful escalation in the conflict to date and marks the first time a Russian or Soviet plane has been downed by NATO since 1953.

The pilots ejected, one of whom was shot in his parachute by FSA-affiliated Alwiya al-Ashar militiamen who subsequently celebrated over the body. About an hour later, the FSA's 1st Coastal Brigade used a US-made TOW to destroy a Russian search and rescue helicopter, killing one Russian marine.

For his part, Vladimir Putin called Erdogan a backstabber and proceeded to accuse Turkey of flying the black flag of ISIS and funding the Islamic State cause by facilitating the sale of illegal crude. 

Miraculously, there were no further escalations overnight, but as we outlined in detail on Tuesday, something doesn’t add up about the story Ankara is telling. According to a letter Turkey sent to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the 15 members of the UN Security Council, the Russian warplane, flying at 19,000 feet, “violated Turkish national airspace to a depth of 1.36 miles and 1.15 miles in length for 17 seconds.” If you do the math on that, it means the Su-24 was basically flying at stall speed. 

Here's how we summed up the situation: 

It's important not to forget the context here. Ankara is fiercly anti-Assad and in addition to being generally displeased with Russia's efforts to support the regime, just four days ago, Turkey summoned Russian ambassador Andrey Karlov over the alleged bombing of Turkish villages near the border. 

 

Of course Russia wasn't just bombing Turkish civilians for the sheer hell of it. It's likely Moscow was targeting the very same FSA-affiliated Alwiya al-Ashar militiamen who shot and killed the parachuting Russian pilot. 

 

In short, it looks like Ankara saw an opportunity to shoot down a Russian jet in retaliation for strikes on Turkish rebel fighters who are operating alongside anti-Assad forces.

With that in mind, note that on Wednesday, Sergei Lavrov (not known for holding his tongue or even for observing any semblance of diplomatic decorum) accused Ankara of conducting a pre-meditated strike. "We have serious doubts this was an unintended incident and believe this is a planned provocation,” Lavrov said, after a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu. Lavrov also said he would back a plan to close the Turkish-Syrian border. "I think this is the right desicion. I hope President Hollande will tell us more about the issue tommorow. We would be ready to consider all measures that needed for this [closing the border]. By closing the border we will basically thwart the terrorist threat in Syria," he said.

Russia also said the Syrian army (so, Iran or Hezbollah) had retrieved the second pilot who is now "alive and well." Here's how French ambassador Alexandre Orlov summed up the situation in an interview with Europe 1 radio: “One on board was wounded when he parachuted down and killed in a savage way on the ground by the jihadists in the area. The other managed to escape and, according to the latest information, has been picked up by the Syrian army and should be going back to the Russian air force base.”

Note the difference in the way Russia and the US describes the FSA. For the US, they are a "moderate opposition group," for the Russians, they are "jihadists." Considering they are allied with al-Qaeda, and judging from the gruesome videos released by the group on Tuesday, you'd be forgiven if you're inclined to go with Moscow's characterization.

Meanwhile, Russia is set to deploy the S-400s. "Russia also said Wednesday it would take new measures in Syria to protect its aircraft, deploying powerful S-400 anti-air missile systems, which have a range of nearly 250 miles, to Russia’s Khmeimim airbase in northwestern Syria," WaPo reports, adding that "the airbase is located a little under 20 miles from the Turkish border, and has the potential to create headaches for Turkish and other aircraft in a U.S.-led coalition that are carrying out a separate airstrike campaign in Syria."

These are of course the same S-400s which the Western media claimed were already at Latakia earlier this month - a contention Russia denied at the time. Whether or note they were there is now immaterial - they'll be operational from this point on. As a reminder, here's what the systems look like:

What seems clear (as noted above and as discussed at length on Tuesday), is that Turkey is keen on protecting Alwiya al-Ashar and other anti-Assad forces operating near the Turkish border. Indeed, Sergei Lavrov said as much in a press briefing on Wednesday. "[The] question arises whether Turkey is defending Syria area to protect rebel infrastructure," Lavrov said at a press briefing in Moscow on Wednesday.

Indeed, Ankara looks to be stepping up its military presence near the area where the Russian plane was shot down. "Turkey has moved 20 tanks from west of country to southern province of Gaziantep, bordering Syria, and increased number of F-16s flying patrols along border to 18 as of yesterday," state-run Anadolu Agency said today. Here's a visual that shows you where Gaziantep is in relation to Aleppo and to the Su-24 crash site:

The logical next question to ask here is how prepared Turkey is to defend FSA positions because it's only a matter of time before the IRGC and Hezbollah invade these areas on the ground and when that happens, you can expect Ankara to cry genocide against Syria's Turkmen miniority. What comes after that is anyone's guess. 

In the meantime, Lavrov says Russia "is not going to war against Turkey," but remember what we said last month when Turkey shot down a Russian drone: "For now, it appears as though The Kremlin is going to take this one in stride, but that may be "strike one" so to speak, meaning NATO might have one or two more pot shots it can take before Erdogan gets a slightly less "neighborly" call from Moscow."

Tuesday was strike two.   (3 images)

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#1. To: All (#0)

Putin now has the grounds, at least in his eyes, to make Syria a hardened Russian military fortress.

And he will.

a-r-m-a-g-e-d-d-o-n

U.S. Constitution - Article IV, Section 4: NO BORDERS + NO LAWS = NO COUNTRY

HAPPY2BME-4UM  posted on  2015-11-25   10:25:22 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  

#2. To: HAPPY2BME-4UM (#0)

Turkeys shouldn't mess with bears.

“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.” ~ H. L. Mencken

Lod  posted on  2015-11-25   11:03:38 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  

#3. To: Lod, HAPPY2BME-4UM (#2) (Edited)

Putin is trying to avoid WW III. He should have constructed an air shield in the early days of his campaign. The Syrian ground forces are moving closer to the Turkish border. They have already cut their supply lines. They have increased the intensity of their air operations. That NATO conference on Syria will soon have no options left.

They have better economic options. They can take down the dollar with Chinese help. The Chinese are up for consideration to add the yuan to the IMF's SDR basket of currencies. But America could veto it. If they do, then China will have an incentive to take down the dollar.

The Truth of 911 Shall Set You Free From The Lie

Horse  posted on  2015-11-25   13:08:03 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  

#4. To: Horse (#3)

I don't always have time to check the news but I heard this news on Mikes radio show yesterday. I was just in Turkey a few months ago (I actually got hit by a motorcycle there, those cats are looney, frantic drivers. Luckily to a large degree id jumped out of the way and pushed it away from me, then he took a spill and him and his friend were ground- bound.)

Anyway its a real shame that I believe this really will provoke WW3. Its purposeful as putin says.

How crazy and shameful that being raised in this country taught that russia was the enemy (and commies are indeed an enemy, despite the insignificance that mike seems to attribute to communism), that now the USA is indeed the bad guy. Its a real shame and we need to write an updated version of RED DAWN, which was my all time fave movie in high school. It was actually the first movie I ever bought, back when buying movies wsnt too common.

Aids ridden 911 truther charlie sheen can reprise his role and we can help reclaim our republic with russias help(??) LoL!

"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you". Sirach 4:28

Artisan  posted on  2015-11-25   13:45:51 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  

#5. To: Artisan (#4)

those cats are looney, frantic drivers

I was in Istanbul over the last holiday, and the traffic is beyond nuts at times. I was sitting at a café near Taksim Square at night watching a big box truck bull its way, the wrong way, down a one-way street against the flow of cabs coming in for a landing at the cab stand in front of the café. Cab drivers were cursing the truck driver blue in the face. Took him about 15 minutes to negotiate fifty yard or so of city street.

Cheap entertainment. Worth the price of a cup of Turkish coffee.

"If ignorance is truly bliss, then why do so many Americans need Prozac?" - Dave McGowan

randge  posted on  2015-11-25   14:01:27 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  

#6. To: randge, christine (#5)

Yep- istanbul, that's where I got hit! I'm pretty cautious but not enough in that case. We weren't there long, but we took a nice boat tour down the river

The most interesting thing was when we first arrived to the border of turkey from bulgaria. The train doesn't go to istanbul as you know, so we had to transfer to a bus for about a 2.5 hour trip.

We needed visas to enter, so this angry hostile policeman and his supervisor (who turned out not to be turkish, but bulgarian) met us and demanded our "electronic visas". It was the middle of the night and these 2 guys demanded I get in the back of their unmarked police car with no explanation. Along with me was one Brit who was with his wife too.

I took just enough cash and gave my wife my wallet & everything else. Told her to email everyone if I wasn't back in an hour. To be honest it was sort of spooky, like some bad 70s movie. The Brit's eyes were great big, he didn't know what the hell was going on either. So we sat in the back seat as these hostile jerks (who I thought were turkish) jibbered loudly in the front seat. We drove for about 12 minutes.

Finally we came to this military checkpoint, guys with machine guns, the driver waived his arm and they opened the barricade.

He pulled up to this booth, told us 'GET OUT" and we went to the booth where I found, amusedly, the most jovial turkish cashier who took our passports? Money and printed the visa. He was friendlier than any 711 cashier.

The brit (and I) sort of breathed a sigh of relief because it was pretty hostile and mysterious why they'd put us in the car to begin with.

What is your favorite thing about turkey, id assume you'd been there before also?

"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you". Sirach 4:28

Artisan  posted on  2015-11-25   15:08:48 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  

#7. To: Artisan (#6)

#6

Thanks for that great account.

U.S. Constitution - Article IV, Section 4: NO BORDERS + NO LAWS = NO COUNTRY

HAPPY2BME-4UM  posted on  2015-11-25   18:14:56 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  

#8. To: Horse, Artisan (#3)

#3 and #4.

Those are my observations as well. Concur.

U.S. Constitution - Article IV, Section 4: NO BORDERS + NO LAWS = NO COUNTRY

HAPPY2BME-4UM  posted on  2015-11-25   18:15:53 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  

#9. To: Artisan (#6)

What is your favorite thing about turkey, id assume you'd been there before also?

Talking to the young people in the restaurants and cafés. They, the educated ones, love to bitch about Erdogan and their government.

Just passing through, really. Cheap tickets to Germany on Turkish Airlines through Istanbul.

"If ignorance is truly bliss, then why do so many Americans need Prozac?" - Dave McGowan

randge  posted on  2015-11-25   21:00:34 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  

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