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NATO chief welcomes Turkey's effort to establish contact with Moscow after downing of Russian jet

Xinhua, November 30, 2015 Adjust font size:

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday said he welcomed Turkey's efforts to establish contacts with Moscow to de-escalate the situation after his meeting with visiting Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

They discussed the crisis in Syria and last week's incident of a Russian jet downing by Turkey.

"All Allies fully support Turkey's right to defend its territorial integrity and its airspace," the NATO chief said at a joint press conference with Davutoglu. "I welcome Turkey's efforts to establish contacts with Moscow and through its contacts with Russia, to de-escalate the situation. It is important to stay calm and to calm tensions," he added.

Stoltenberg highlighted the need to avoid similar situations in the future through strengthening international mechanisms in relationship with Russia. He said the issue of risk-reduction mechanisms will be discussed at the following NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting on Tuesday.

The Secretary General also urged Russia to play a constructive role in Syria by targeting ISIL, which he said is their common enemy. Davutoglu reaffirmed at the press conference that Turkey's action of attacking Russian fighter jet was "defensive", adding that Turkey "cannot be blamed."

"There are two coalitions functioning in the same airspace against ISIL, it will be difficult to prevent this type of incidents," he stressed, referring to the fact that both the United States-led coalition and Russia are doing operations in Syria. "There is a need to coordinate these activities," said he.

Davutoglu said Turkey "is ready to talk, to have diplomatic military channels with Russia" in order to prevent further similar cases. Endit