Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said on Monday that the violation of Turkish airspace was a mistake by Russian aircrafts and Moscow said that it would not happen again.
Speaking in a live interview on HaberTurk TV, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu warned Russia to avoid the same incident in the future, by making clear Turkey would respond if provoked.
Turkey's Foreign Ministry said earlier in the day it had summoned Russia's ambassador to protest the violation of its airspace by one of its warplanes and was told it was a "mistake" that would not happen again.
Turkey, which has the second-largest army in NATO, scrambled two F-16 jets on Saturday after a Russian warplane crossed into its airspace near the province of Hatay, which borders Syria, the foreign ministry said.
In a second incident, the Turkish military said a MiG-29 fighter jet -- an aircraft used by both Russia and Syria -- had harassed two of its F-16s by locking its radar on to them on Sunday as they patrolled the border.
"What we have received from Russia this morning is that this was a mistake and that they respect Turkey's borders and this will not happen again," Davutoğlu said of Saturday's airspace violation, making clear Turkey would respond if provoked.
PM Davutoğlu said Turkey's rules of engagement are clear whoever violates its airspace.
"Necessary steps would be taken against whoever violates Turkey's borders, even if it's a bird," he said in the interview.
The Turkish PM also accused Moscow of escalating the Syrian crisis by entering the conflict.
"For Russia, which long opposed foreign intervention in Syria and blocked UN Security Council resolutions, to be actively involved in Syria is both a contradiction and a move that has escalated the crisis."
Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan also criticized Russia's actions as a "grave mistake".
"Unfortunately, Russia is now in a serious mistake and I was under the impression that this step will be a sign which will lead it [Russia] to isolation in the region," Erdoğan told journalists on Sunday at Esenboğa International Airport in Ankara before leaving for his Europe tour.
"Assad has committed state terrorism, and unfortunately you find Russia and Iran defending (him)," Erdoğan told a crowd of supporters in Strasbourg, France, late on Sunday.
"Those countries that collaborate with the regime will account for it in history," he said.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned Moscow's ambassador to protest the violation. Turkey urged Russia to avoid repeating such a violation, or it would be held "responsible for any undesired incident that may occur."
A foreign ministry statement said that Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioğlu spoke with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, as well as key NATO partners and discussed the issue.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the Russian ambassador had been summoned, telling reporters that "some facts were mentioned there which are to be checked".
Both parties don't see any necessity for a high-level emergency meeting over the airspace violation.
Russian air strikes in Syria, launched last week, have wrong-footed both the United States and its allies including Turkey, which says lasting peace can only be achieved with President Bashar al-Assad's removal.
Moscow says its intervention aims to weaken the Islamic State or Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, militants, but Turkey, the US, NATO and other Western powers said the Russian airstrikes targeted moderate opposition, who fight against regime forces and see the move as support for Assad.
"By taking military action in Syria against moderate groups as targets, Russia has escalated the civil war," U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in a speech in Madrid.
