Over the course of Russia’s involvement in Syria, the tension between Moscow and Ankara has grown steadily.
In short, NATO-member Turkey has accused Russian fighter jets of violating its airspace as they buzz the border on the way to hitting anti-regime targets. The escalation of hostilities between the two countries now threatens to derail billions in trade and energy deals as Erdogan recently warned Putin that Ankara may go elsewhere for its natural gas needs.
Ultimately, it isn’t about Turkey’s airspace. It’s about Ankara wanting Assad gone and Moscow wanting Assad to remain in power and indeed, the US is already using a Turkish air base as a kind of forward operating center for bombing runs, meaning NATO may well use Turkey to float conflict trial balloons to see just what the West can get away with in terms of challenging the Russians in Syria (incidentally, Erdogan has an election coming up in two weeks and a key part of the push to restore AKP’s absolute majority in parliament is scaring the public into believing that Turkey is under attack and only a strong government can save it). And here’s proof of that assessment:
- US OFFICIAL SAYS SUSPECTS DRONE WAS A RUSSIAN DRONE: RTRS
- UNITED STATES SUSPECTS THAT PLANE SHOT DOWN BY TURKEY WAS A RUSSIAN DRONE AIRCRAFT – U.S. OFFICIAL TELLS REUTERS
With that in mind, consider that just moments ago, Turkey shot down an unmanned drone that Ankara says violated its airspace:
