Erdogan says Turkey always defend Turkish borders.

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ISTANBUL, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said Turkey did not want any escalation with Russia over its downing of a Russian plane on the Syrian frontier but vowed to always defend Turkish borders.
“We have no intention to escalate this incident. We are just defending our security and the rights of our brothers,” Erdogan said in a televised speech in Istanbul.
“Turkey has never favoured tensions and crisis, it has and will always favour peace and dialogue,” said Erdogan.
But he added: “No one should expect us to remain silent when our border security and our sovereignty are being violated.”
Turkey said it shot down the Russian warplane after it repeatedly violated air space above the Turkish border. Moscow however insists that the plane never strayed from Syrian air space.http://dudetoday.com/3524.html
Erdogan said that the incident early on Tuesday showed “what kind of consequences careless steps could have”.
He revealed that two Turkish citizens were wounded by pieces of the Russian plane that fell on the Turkish side of the border.
The president dismissed Russian claims that the plane had been on an anti-terror mission against Islamic State (IS) jihadists in northern Syria, saying that the area was populated by Syria’s Turkmen minority.
“No one should ever fool themselves: There are no Daesh (IS) elements in the Bayirbucak region where Turkmen live,” said Erdogan.
Turkey’s NATO allies call for a rapid de-escalation in tensions between Ankara and Moscow.
US President Barack Obama said Washington’s NATO ally Turkey had a right to defend its airspace but said his priority was to make sure the standoff did not escalate.
“I think it is very important for us to right now make sure that both the Russians and the Turks are talking to each other and find out exactly what happened, and take measures to discourage any kind of escalation,” Obama told reporters.
“Hopefully, this is a moment in which all parties can step back and make a determination as to how their interests are best served.”
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Erdogan and Obama agreed on the need to reduce tensions and prevent a repeat of similar incidents in a phone call late on Tuesday, the Turkish presidency said.
In his first reaction to the incident, Erdogan said: “Everyone must respect the right of Turkey to protect its borders.”
Following an extraordinary meeting of the alliance called by Ankara, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg urged both sides to try to calm the crisis between the two rival players in the Syrian conflict.
“Diplomacy and de-escalation are important to resolve this situation,” he said. – AFP