Who gave the order to shoot down the Russian Su-24 in 2015

Popular Russian blogger colonelcassad spoke about the version of the Gulenists, who interpret the episode with the downed Russian Su-24 bomber in 2015 as the execution of Erdogan’s order.

Turkish Air Force Commander Abidin Yunal gave the order to shoot down a Russian plane

According to a senior officer working at the Air Force headquarters at the time, the Turkish fighter pilot knew that he was firing at a Russian military aircraft in the airspace over the Turkish-Syrian border, the order was given by the Turkish Air Force commander, General Abidin Yunal. While testifying in court on August 15, 2017, 45-year-old headquarters colonel Ali Durmush said that on November 24, 2015, the Air Force command informed Yunal that two Russian fighters had violated Turkish airspace over the Syrian border and requested instructions. Unal ordered a strike, which resulted in the Russian Su-24M being shot down by a Turkish F-16 fighter jet near the border with Syria, over the mountainous terrain at the junction of the Turkish province of Hatay and the Syrian province of Latakia.

“… When he was called and told about two Russian planes circling over our border, he ordered to shoot down planes if they cross the border and enter Turkish airspace, and hung up. As a result, a few minutes after this call, by order [авиадиспетчеров], [российский] the plane that crossed the border and entered our airspace was shot down, ”Durmush said.

He also explained how the revised rules of engagement, approved by the government, worked differently for Russian and Syrian aircraft. While the ultimate authority to shoot down a foreign aircraft belongs to the government, the rules of engagement were designed to give the military the power to make such calls in order to shorten the response time due to the urgency of rapidly evolving situations. As for the Syrian aircraft, the government delegated the authority to open fire to pilots and air traffic controllers, through the Chief of General Staff and the Air Force command.

“Considering that one of our planes was shot down by Syria, this was done in order to react quickly to planes crossing the air border, as a result of which a Syrian plane and a helicopter were shot down,” he said.

He was referring to the Turkish RF-4E Phantom reconnaissance aircraft, which was shot down by Syria on June 22, 2012 after it violated Syrian airspace near Latakia. Previously, the Nordic Monitor published a report confirming that the flight was planned by the Turkish National Intelligence Service (MİT) as a secret false flag operation to push Turkey into a military invasion of the territory of its southern neighbor at the very beginning of the civil war in the Arab country and itself NATO.

In accordance with the revised rules of warfare, Turkish F-16s in 2013 shot down a Syrian helicopter, and in 2014, with the permission of air traffic controllers, a Syrian Mig 23 fighter.

However, the rules for interacting with Russian planes in Syria, according to Durmush, since Russian fighters did not shoot at Turkish planes, but operated in Syria. As a result, the decision to destroy Russian aircraft was not transferred to air traffic controllers or pilots, but, with the approval of the government, which delegated its authority to fire to the military, was left to the discretion and responsibility of the Air Force commander.

“An analysis was carried out and it was concluded that an experienced Air Force commander is more suitable for assessing and making decisions, taking into account the strategic and foreign policy interests of our country,” Durmush said. In other words, a downed Russian plane would have far-reaching strategic and political consequences for Turkey, and the right to such a decision did not remain at the discretion of the air traffic controller or pilot, but was delegated to the Air Force command.

Colonel Ali Durmush

“Now that we look at it now and here [то совершенно ясно]that the person who gave the order is responsible. The pilot and the air traffic controller, of course, do not bear any responsibility here, ”Durmush emphasized.

Unal was no ordinary Air Force general. Unlike his predecessors, he maintained a close relationship with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom he met in secret, outside the chain of command, without the knowledge of the then Chief of the General Staff, General Hulusi Akar. In the corridors of Ankara’s politics, rumors circulated that he would become the next chief of the General Staff, and his diplomat son boasted of such a prospect to friends and colleagues. This chatter about Unal prompted a suspicious Akar to monitor his movements.

When Unal gave the order to strike at the Russian plane, he knew that he was carrying out the will of President Erdogan.

The Air Force commander’s order to destroy the Russian plane was apparently seen as a victory by both the government and Chief of General Staff Akar, who personally visited the airbase to congratulate the F-16 fighter pilot who shot down the plane. Russian plane.

The presidential administration was delighted with the news of the downed Russian plane and leaked this information to the media as the latest news. Turkish semi-official news agency Anadolu, citing sources close to the Turkish president, said that the Russian SU-24 was shot down as part of Turkish rules of warfare in the Syrian region of Bayir-Buchak, where Turkomans live. Before the incident, Russian aircraft shelled northern Latakia in Syria, and Turkomans living in the area fled to the Turkish border. Moscow then said it was launching airstrikes against what it calls terrorists.

Former Air Force Commander General Abidine Yunal (standing) briefs President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the situation.

President Erdogan’s key role in the incident was also revealed when Nordic Monitor released classified military documents in December 2019. Erdogan said at the time that “every military element approaching Turkey from the Syrian border and posing a risk and threat to security will be assessed as a military threat and treated as a military target.”

While Erdogan and other Turkish leaders initially ignored Russia’s threats and pledged to act according to the rules of war again if another violation occurs in the air, they later softened the rhetoric. Following a rapprochement agreement between Moscow and Ankara, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) began to argue that the government did not order the Turkish Air Force to shoot down the Russian plane, but rather argued that the pilots were acting independently. Two pilots were accused of having shot down a Russian plane on their own initiative and were arrested following a coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

Unal, who issued the order over the phone, retired from the army in 2017 after he worked closely with the Turkish intelligence agency MIT to play a role in a false flag coup attempt in 2016. He left the air force crippled by the massive purge of combat pilots, which led to a huge shortage of them in NATO’s second-largest army. He made conflicting statements about his role during the failed coup and was criticized for deliberately not taking any action to end the Air Force early on. He is reported to be living abroad today.

Durmush was jailed by Erdogan’s government on trumped-up charges of conspiracy to carry out a coup d’état, and was sentenced to 79 life sentences plus 3,901 years at the end of the bogus trials ending in November 2020.

Abdullah Bozkurt

A source / original in english

For understanding: the author of the text, after the failure of the military coup in 2016 (which he calls a “coup under a false flag”) fled from Turkey to Sweden, where he created the aforementioned publication, in which he will sand the policy of Erdogan. In Turkey, an arrest warrant was issued against him on the basis of Bozkurt’s affiliation with the Gulen organization, which is considered terrorist in Turkey (it also appeared in the murder of the Russian ambassador Karlov).
It is worth noting that after the failure of the military coup, Erdogan stated in his rhetoric that the Gülen organization was involved in the story with the Su-24.

And according to the text itself.

1. The author defiantly omits the role and public recognition of Prime Minister Davutoglu that it was he who gave the order to shoot down the plane. During the process of normalizing Russian-Turkish relations, Davutoglu lost his post as prime minister.

Former Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that it was he who gave the order to shoot down the Russian Su-24 in November last year, adding that the order was carried out in accordance with the general instructions for the protection of Turkish skies. Writes about this edition Hurriyet Daily News.
“As part of the protection of our state, the Prime Minister sets the rules for opening fire by a written directive to the general command. I gave the order on October 10, “Davutoglu said in an interview with NTV, which was shown on air on July 15.

Here he actually repeated his November 2015 statement.

True, in January 2016, he already shifted responsibility to the Turkish Air Force commander indicated in the article.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has repeatedly commented on the situation with the Russian Su-24 bomber shot down by the country’s air force in the skies over Syria. On November 25, 2015, he said that shortly before that, a meeting on national security was held, during which a decision was made on the need for certain actions in the event of a violation of the country’s airspace. Davutoglu then stressed that at the same time it was decided: he personally would give all orders to the Turkish armed forces.
Later, the Prime Minister shared with the Turkish media information about the procedure that must be followed in the event of a violation of the country’s airspace for more than three minutes. The pilots are instructed to contact the Turkish Air Force commander, who must pass the information on to the Chief of the General Staff. The latter, in turn, is obliged to notify the Prime Minister, after which an order is given on further action. At the same time, Davutoglu insisted that the Russian Su-24 was allegedly in Turkish airspace for 17 seconds.
“As you understand, it is impossible (to carry out the entire sequence of the actions described above in three minutes – RT). I did not give a specific order to shoot down a Russian plane, there can be no such order. How could they contact me in 17 seconds so that I could give an order? No, ”the Turkish prime minister said, noting that he had delegated decision-making powers to the chief of the General Staff.
The latter, in turn, transferred these powers further – to the commander of the Turkish Air Force, Davutoglu insisted.
However, subsequently the testimony of the Turkish prime minister changed again. On December 31, 2015, he stated that he had not given the order to attack the Russian bomber, and all information to the contrary is a distortion that the opposition deliberately allowed. He reiterated that it was impossible to give an order within 17 seconds. A source

On the whole, it looks as if the author is shielding Davutoglu, who was somehow connected with this decision and turns the arrows only to Erdogan and the commander of the Turkish Air Force. Which is remarkable. In the summer of 2016, Erdogan, in an interview with Al-Jazeera, stated that the pilots who shot down the Su-24 could be involved to Gülen’s organization… In 2017, Davutoglu stated that the two indicated pilots could not be related to Gulen’s organization. Inevitably, a question creeps in, and is Davutoglu himself connected with Gulen’s organization?

2. For the downed plane with the Turks, they paid in full in February 2020, when a Turkish mechanized company was bombed in Idlib.

33 Turkish soldiers and officers killed in the Idlib airstrike have been officially recognized. The unofficial death toll exceeded 60. To help the Turks sleep more calmly, the airstrike was attributed to the Syrian Air Force.

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