We don't want Russia escalation: Turkey

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey doesn't want any escalation with Russia over its downing of a Russian plane on the Syrian frontier.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan insists he is not seeking to escalate tensions with Moscow.

Speaking at a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation in Istanbul, he said his country wanted "peace, dialogue and diplomacy".

At the same time, however, he strongly defended the shooting down of a Russian plane on the near the Syrian border, warning "no one should expect Turkey to stay silent to border violations or the violation of its rights".

"We have no intention to escalate this incident. We are just defending our security and the rights of our brothers," Erdogan said in a televised speech on Wednesday.

"Turkey has never favoured tensions and crisis, it has and will always favour peace and dialogue.

But he added: "No one should expect us to remain silent when our border security and our sovereignty are being violated."

Erdogan said the incident showed "what kind of consequences careless steps could have".

Russia has vehemently disputed Ankara's claims that its aircraft crossed into Turkish airspace in the course of the bombing mission, insisting that it remained on the Syrian side of the border throughout its flight.

A furious Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of "significant consequences" for an attack which he described as a "stab in the back by the terrorists' accomplices".

Putin on Wednesday also accused Turkey's political leaders of encouraging the "Islamisation" of Turkish society, something he described as a deeper problem than the downing of the jet.

It is thought to be the first time a warplane from a NATO member has shot down a Russian aircraft in half a century.

Later Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia will continue air strikes against Islamic State targets located in Syria near the Turkish border.

"We would like for the terrorists and militants to keep further away from the Turkish border, but unfortunately they tend to be situated on the Syrian territory close to the Turkish border," Peskov told journalists on a conference call.

"(Russia's) operations will continue without doubt."


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Source: AAP


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We don't want Russia escalation: Turkey | SBS News