ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey’s prime minister has called on Russia to respect Turkey’s air space, saying the country would not “make any concessions” on matters concerning its border security.
Ahmet Davutoglu on Wednesday also renewed a criticism of Russia’s airstrikes in Syria, insisting they were mainly targeting the moderate Syrian opposition and therefore helping strengthen the Islamic State group. He asked that Russia also respect Turkey’s security concerns over Syria.
Russian warplanes violated Turkey’s borders on two occasions over the weekend, drawing strong protests from Turkey’s NATO allies. Turkey scrambled F-16s in response and also summoned the Russian ambassador to lodge protests.
Earlier, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said Turkey had proposed a meeting between Turkish and Russian military officials to be held in Ankara on avoiding future Russian infringements of Turkey’s airspace.
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