Russia says Turkey preparing to invade Syria

Russia: Signs Turkey preparing to invade Syria – YouTube

Russia says it has serious grounds to suspect that Turkey is preparing for a military incursion into Syria.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Kona-shen-kov says there are signs of hidden preparation by the Turkish Armed Forces to take action in the Syrian territory. Earlier, Moscow once again rejected Turkey’s recent allegation that a Russian warplane violated the Turkish airspace. The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Moscow believes Ankara’s claim is a cover-up for the Turkish military activities on the Syrian border. Maria Zakharova added that Turkey has yet to provide evidence that Russian jet fighters violated its airspace. Tension between the two countries has been high since the shoot-down of a Russian bomber by Turkey over Syria in late November. Ankara insists the Russian jet had trespassed into its airspace.

Developments on the Turkish-Syrian border give serious grounds to suspect that Ankara is planning a military invasion in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

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Turkey is trying to conceal its illegal military activity on the border with Syria and has canceled an agreed Russian observation flight over its territory because of that, Russia’s Defense Ministry said.

“Such steps carried out by a country, which is a NATO member state, in no way contribute to the strengthening of trust and security in Europe,” Major General Igor Konashenkov, Defense Ministry spokesman, told the journalists at briefing in Moscow.

Konashenkov called the cancelation of the Russian observation flight over Turkish territory “a dangerous precedent and an attempt to conceal illegal military activity near the border with Syria.”

The violation of the Open Skies Treaty by Ankara won’t go without a proper response from Moscow, he said.

Konashenkov also said Russia has boosted all kinds of intelligence and surveillance activities in the Middle East.

“So if someone in Ankara thinks that the cancelation of the flight by the Russian observers will enable hiding something then they’re unprofessional.”

The spokesman reminded that 32 foreign observation flights took place in Russian air space in 2015, in accordance with the treaty, with four of them carried out by Turkish observers.

The earlier agreed observation flight over Turkish territory was canceled on February 3, after Russian experts revealed the route, which would have included airfields and areas near the Turkish-Syrian border.

The spokesman recalled that Moscow had previously provided the international community with irrefutable video evidence of Turkish artillery firing on Syrian populated areas in the north of Latakia Province.

Turkey is also supplying manpower and weaponry to terrorists in the Syrian cities of Idlib and Aleppo, Konashenkov said.

The spokesman showed the media a photo of the Reyhanli checkpoint, saying that “through this very border crossing – mainly at nighttime – the militants, who seized the city of Aleppo and Idlib in northwestern Syria, are being supplied with arms and fighters from the Turkish territory.”

The terrorists in northern Syria are suffering losses and retreating to the Turkish border, the Defense Ministry spokesman said.

According to Konashenkov, terrorist commanders have made major efforts to evacuate injured fighters and regain control of their units.
Turkish airspace violation claims ‘poorly-orchestrated provocation’

Russia still hasn’t received any data from Turkey concerning the alleged incident with the Russian warplane, which Ankara accused of violating its airspace, Konashenkov said.

“Just a few minutes ago, another Turkish official said the data was passed to Moscow… No materials were passed to us by either military or diplomatic channels,” he stressed.