The Turkish Armed Forces, or TSK, said Tuesday that an unknown MIG-29 fighter jet harassed Turkish aircraft during a patrol flight near the Syrian border in Turkey on Monday.
Another Syrian-based missile system also interfered with the fighter jets along the border on the same day, said the TSK in a statement released on its website.
The harassment of Turkish F-16s by an MIG-29 fighter jet – an aircraft used both by Russia and Syria – lasted 4 minutes 30 seconds, while the duration of the intervention of the Syria-based missile systems was about 4 minutes 15 seconds, the statement said.
The military statement came after two interceptions of Russian jets across Turkish airspace over the weekend.
Turkey, a NATO member with the alliance's second biggest army, scrambled two F-16 jets on Saturday after a Russian aircraft crossed into its airspace near the southern Hatay province, the Turkish foreign ministry announced earlier.
In another incident, the Turkish military said Monday an MIG-29 fighter jet had harassed two of its F-16s on Sunday by locking its radar onto them as they patrolled the border.
NATO held an emergency meeting of ambassadors from its 28 member states in Brussels to respond to what Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called "unacceptable violations of Turkish airspace" after a Russian jet crossed its frontier.
NATO members "strongly protest" and "condemn" incursions into Turkish and NATO territory, the alliance said.
"Allies also note the extreme danger of such irresponsible behavior. They call on the Russian Federation to cease and desist, and immediately explain these violations," NATO said in a statement after the meeting.
Moscow said the violation of Turkish airspace by Russian jets was a mistake, while NATO said the incident didn't look like an accident. "This is not an accident this is a serious violation," said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, adding that the violation lasted for a long time. "NATO was taking it very seriously," he said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned Russia regarding such a move and said, “Russia should know well that it would lose a lot if it loses a friend like a Turkey."
