President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that no one should think that Turkey will remain silent and unresponsive when Turkey's airspace is violated.
“We only aim to enforce our security and law of our brotherhood. Do not let anyone expect us to ignore any further violation of our sovereignty. We certainly have no interest in escalating tension,” Erdoğan said, speaking in Istanbul at the annual gathering of a standing committee of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Erdoğan was referring to the downing of a Russian SU-24 shot down by two Turkish F-16 fighter jets over Yayladağı town after it had violated the country's airspace and ignored several warnings.
The two jets, whose origins could not be determined at first, attempted to violate Turkish air space over the southern province of Hatay, on the border with Syria. Ten warnings were issued for them not to approach the to Turkish air space. One of the jets violated the country's airspace five times despite warnings, while the other changed its route directly to the south, heading for Syria. Turkish military later identified the jet as a Russian-made SU-24.
The Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC) was formed at the third Islamic Summit in Mecca in 1981. It serves as a multilateral economic and commercial cooperation body for the Islamic world. The committee convenes annually at a ministerial level in Istanbul under the chairmanship of the Turkish President.
Erdoğan said Muslim leaders should question themselves to see how much they have done to help the oppressed people while the Islamic world was going through a difficult era to survive. “Fifty-four of every 1,000 children die under the age of 5 across the OIC member states. A significant portion of footages displaying hunger, famine and poverty in the Muslim world, have emerged in the OIC member states.”
“The war in Syria is about to enter its fifth year. So far, 380,000 innocent Syrians have been killed because of state-backed terror. We have to join hands to stop the killing of innocent people,” he said, speaking firmly.
The Turkish President also urged the Islamic countries to take a decisive stand against a handful of murder networks using Islam for their dirty ambitions. “The dark networks, called ISIL and al-Qaeda, have been involved in proxy war on behalf of other powers across the Muslim world. It is must for us not to sway from our commitment to a stronger stance,” he added.
