Summary
Turkey's NATO allies Wednesday called for a rapid de-escalation in tensions between Ankara and Moscow after Turkish fighter jets shot down a Russian war plane on the Syrian border, sparking fears of a wider conflict.
With the incident risking serious harm for Ankara-Moscow relations, Turkey said the Russian plane had violated its air space 10 times within a five minute period, but Russia insisted it had never strayed from Syrian territory.
The Turkish ambassador to the United Nations Halit Cevik said in a letter to the Security Council that two planes were involved, one of which was shot down while the other left Turkish air space.
He said both planes had flown 1.36 miles (2.19 kilometers) into Turkish airspace for 17 seconds from 0724 GMT Tuesday.
Ankara and Moscow are already on starkly opposing sides in the over four year Syrian civil war, with Turkey wanting to see the ousting of President Bashar Assad but Russia one of his last remaining allies.
Turkey had bitterly condemned Russia's campaign, saying it was aimed at hitting Syrian rebels and buttressing the Assad regime rather than hurting ISIS extremists.
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