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Russian Warplane Incursions In Turkey Are 'Unacceptable,' NATO Chief Says

"This is unacceptable," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said of Russian military aircraft violating Turkey's airspace. NATO defense ministers will meet Thursday to discuss the situation.
Virginia Mayo
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AP
"This is unacceptable," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said of Russian military aircraft violating Turkey's airspace. NATO defense ministers will meet Thursday to discuss the situation.

"This is unacceptable." That's what NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg had to say about Russian military aircraft violating Turkey's airspace twice this weekend. Stoltenberg also has said he doubts Russia's explanation that it was an accident.

At issue most recently is the Turkish military's allegation that on Sunday, "a MiG-29 plane of unidentified nationality for five minutes and 40 seconds kept two Turkish F-16 planes on its radar as potential targets," reports the Russian news agency Tass.

Turkey's foreign minister says his country has now twice summoned Russia's ambassador to protest the incursions — one on Saturday and another on Sunday.

Stoltenberg said he has convened a special meeting over the airspace violations, and that NATO is in "strong solidarity with Turkey."

"I'm also concerned that Russia is not targeting ISIL," Stoltenberg said, "but instead attacking the Syrian opposition and civilians."

The Russian naval ship Caesar Kunikov passes through the Dardanelles strait in Turkey to the Mediterranean Sea on Sunday. The memorial on the mountain commemorates the World War I Gallipoli campaign, with a sign citing a Turkish poem: "Stop passenger. The land you come upon without knowing is the place an era had ceased." Russia began launching military operations in Syria last Wednesday.
Burak Gezen / AP
/
AP
The Russian naval ship Caesar Kunikov passes through the Dardanelles strait in Turkey to the Mediterranean Sea on Sunday. The memorial on the mountain commemorates the World War I Gallipoli campaign, with a sign citing a Turkish poem: "Stop passenger. The land you come upon without knowing is the place an era had ceased." Russia began launching military operations in Syria last Wednesday.

When Russia began its airstrikes and patrols to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last week, the country was quickly criticized for targeting positions held by U.S.-supported rebels rather than those of the so-called Islamic State.

"A Turkish official says Russia's air campaign in Syria could cause up to a million more refugees to flee to Turkey," NPR's Peter Kenyon reports, citing a statement from Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus, who said Russia's entry into the conflict could shift the balance of power in Syrian cities.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Bill Chappell is a writer and editor on the News Desk in the heart of NPR's newsroom in Washington, D.C.