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Turkey/Russia: A news story from yesterday that may help make sense of today's events
Turkey seeks U.N. Security Council meeting on Turkmens in Syria: sources (Reuters)Turkey has called for a U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss attacks on Turkmens in neighboring Syria, sources in the prime minister's office said, days after Ankara summoned the Russian ambassador to protest against the bombing of their villages.
About 1,700 people have fled the mountainous Syrian area to the Turkish border as a result of fighting in the last three days, one Turkish official said. Russian jets have bombed the area in support of ground operations by Syrian government forces.
Ankara has traditionally expressed solidarity with the Syrian Turkmens, who are Syrians of Turkish descent. It has also repeatedly voiced concern about Russian military support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's civil war.
...
Turkey summoned Moscow's ambassador on Friday and called for an immediate end to the Russian military operation near its border in northern Syria, which it said included "heavy bombardment" of Turkmen civilian villages.
Given that this was a source of recent hostility, and the fact that the Russian aircraft was likely hit over Syria after briefly passing through Turkish airspace, the shoot-down today strikes me as being an instance of Turkey going: "Go ahead, violate my airspace. Make my day."
Is Turkey a poor, little victim in this? No. But neither is Russia.
Let's cut through the spin and propaganda on both sides...