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Russia’s turkey airspace violation lasted 17 seconds: WikiLeaks

Tuesday, 24 November 2015 11:47 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 25 November 2015 2:34 AM ]

A Russian jet crashing on the Syrian side of the Turkish-Syrian border after being shot down by Turkey on November 24, 2015. (AFP)

WikiLeaks says Turkey sent a letter to the UN after shooting down a Russian Su-24 jet stating that it violated Turkish air space for 17 seconds.

According to the leaked letter addressed to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, aircraft with “unknown” nationality “violated Turkish national airspace to a depth of 1.36 miles and 1.15 miles in length for 17 seconds from 9:24:05 local time,” RT reported on Tuesday.

The letter, sent by Turkish UN Ambassador Yasar Halit Cevik, claims that the jets were called upon “10 times during a period of five minutes via ‘emergency’ channels” to alter their course.

Cevik said that one of the planes left Turkish airspace, but “plane two was fired at while in Turkish airspace by Turkish F-16s,” which resulted in its crash on the Syrian side of the Turkish-Syrian border.

Russia denies all of Turkey’s claims maintaining that the jet was downed in Syrian airspace where Russia has been carrying out operations against the Daesh Takfiri terrorists since September 30 upon a request by the Damascus government.

Based on radar imaging from Russia’s Hmeymim base in Syria, the Turkish jet actually violated Syrian airspace to attack the Russian jet.

According to Russia’s General Staff, one of the pilots was killed by ground fire after ejecting from the plane and a rescue operation is under way to find the other pilot.

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