What was Turkey up to?
What is happening on the Turkish-Syrian border shows that Turkey is preparing for a military invasion of Syria, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told 4 on February.
“We have serious reasons to suspect Turkey’s intensive preparation for a military invasion of the territory of a sovereign state - the Syrian Arab Republic,” Konashenkova quotes. Interfax. “Signs of the covert preparation of the Turkish armed forces for active operations in Syria, we are fixing more and more.”
The official representative also recalled that earlier the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation presented video evidence: the shots show how Turkish self-propelled artillery installations fire at Syrian settlements in the north of Latakia.
“We are surprised that the talkative representatives of the Pentagon, NATO and numerous so-called human rights organizations in Syria, despite our call to respond to these actions, are still silent,” said Konashenkov.
He also said that the Russian defense ministry strengthened all types of intelligence in the Middle East.
“Therefore, if someone in Ankara thinks that the cancellation of the flight of Russian observers will allow something to be hidden, then it is unprofessional,” he said. RIA News".
As for the cancellation of observational flights, there is news on this topic. It dates back to the same February 4 as the statement by Konashenkov for the press.
Turkey’s ban on Russian observation flights confirms Moscow’s concern over the use of the Turkish-Syrian border to support the Islamic State, said RIA News" high-ranking source in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
The agency does not disclose the source name.
Moscow considers Ankara’s refusal to conduct an observation flight over Turkey within the framework of the “open skies” treaty blatant, this source told RIA Novosti.
The agency reminds that the flight of a group of Russian observers over the territory of Turkey was planned from 1 to 5 in February. However, after the announcement of the planned route, the Turkish military refused to conduct it, citing the instructions of its Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The case is, of course, blatant, because today, in fact, the agreement on open skies is one of the few mechanisms that continue to operate in the common European space. Moreover, this agreement is effective, and it allows you to have reliable information about the steps taken or not taken by this or that state, ”said an unnamed interlocutor of RIA Novosti. And he pointed out that “a year ago, when our Western partners tried to actively accuse Russia, that we had some kind of unspecified activity along the border with Ukraine, it was the flights of the planes of NATO countries under the open sky agreement that completely refuted all those fabrications”.
So what can a Turkish ban mean? The source has the answer to the question: “There is no need to try to solve some rebus. This is an obvious fact. If you are not allowed to fly there, then there is something to hide. There is something to hide not only from us, there is something to hide from the international community. This once again confirms the concerns that the Russian side has repeatedly voiced about the use of the Turkish-Syrian border in order to support the ISIL militants. ”
In the evening of the same 4 February, the press published a response from the Russian Foreign Ministry about the Ankara ban.
Russia does not intend to leave unanswered the ban of the Turkish authorities on the observation flight of the Russian An-30B in violation of the open sky treaty and is waiting for support from other countries, the agency reports "Prime".
Consider and comment the other side.
As the IA "REGNUM", the reason for the refusal of Russia in an observation flight over the territory of the country and near the borders of Syria was explained by the Turkish Foreign Ministry. A ministry spokesman, Tanju Bilgić, said that observation flights are carried out when both parties reach agreement on a flight plan.
"In the case of the observation flight requested by the Russian Federation on 2-5 February 2016 of the year, the parties could not agree on the flight route, and thus it was not carried out," the agency quotes the official representative of the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
Meanwhile, the REGNUM news agency reminds that earlier Sergei Ryzhkov, head of the Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation for Control over Contract Enforcement, reported that the flight to An-30B was planned from February to 1 through 5. Ryzhkov said: "There were no preconditions or restrictions on the observation flight by Russia from Turkey."
The fact that the political relations of Turkey and Russia are in one of their worst phases is also indicated by the breakdown of the Geneva talks, arranged by Turkey and the United States with the aim of provocative attacks on Russia.
The US State Department and President Erdogan behind him explained the actual disruption of the inter-Syrian negotiations in Geneva by the operation of the Russian videoconferencing system, the newspaper reminds "Sight". Representatives of the legal authorities of Syria, as well as Russian diplomats, are convinced that the disruption of Geneva-3 was planned by the delegation of the opposition, acting on orders from Turkey, as well as Saudi Arabia.
Western and Middle Eastern patrons of the "opposition" turned the blame on the Assad government, and the State Department blamed Russia. The Geneva talks were terminated due to the fact that the Russian Aerospace Forces allegedly fired on a humanitarian convoy, said State Department spokesman John Kirby, pointing to "bombing against civilian targets."
Turkish President Erdogan bluntly stated that negotiations to resolve the crisis in Syria cannot be held as long as the operation of the Russian Aerospace Forces continues in the country.
And one more fact speaking about the “frosty” stage in Turkish-Russian relations.
Last week, Ankara accused Russian pilots of violating Turkish airspace. The Su-34 bomber incident occurred on January 29, notes RBC. The Turkish side claims that the pilot was warned in Russian and English. In turn, Moscow rejected these accusations of violating the airspace and demanded evidence.
It is clear that Turkey, the Middle Eastern monarchies like Saudi Arabia and, of course, the United States, will continue to do everything to overthrow Assad in Syria. Erdogan, who considers Assad a "butcher" and a "murderer," has long dreamed of ending the current Syrian government. The same goals are pursued by the United States. Ankara, feeling behind its back the invisible presence of the United States and NATO, is capable of any actions. The possible invasion of Syria does not seem fiction at all: everything that Uncle Sam approves of and that can somehow harm Russian interests has a high chance of coming true.
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