Türkiye is “closely” following Tuesday’s drone crash over the Black Sea, National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has said.
“As you know, such an incident occurred yesterday. … We are following the event closely. We have various contacts,” Akar told the reporters at the parliament in the capital Ankara on Wednesday.
Türkiye is in favour of a “reasonable resolution” to the issue, Akar added.
A Russian SU-27 fighter jet crashed into a US unmanned aerial vehicle in international airspace above the Black Sea, causing the American aircraft to crash, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
The incident occurred after the Russian jet and another SU-27 “conducted an unsafe and unprofessional intercept” of the Reaper, including dumping fuel on the drone and flying in front of it “in a reckless, environmentally unsound and unprofessional manner,” according to the US European Command.
It said the drone was conducting reconnaissance when one of the SU-27 jets struck the propeller of the MQ-9 Reaper at roughly 7.03 am CET (0603GMT) on Tuesday, prompting the drone’s operators to bring it down in international waters.
Responding to the accusations, Russia said: “The American UAV was straightly and provocatively moving in the direction of the Russian territory with the transponders turned off, and violated the boundaries of the temporary restricted area established for the purpose of conducting the special military operation”.
About a question whether the ships will be allowed to pass through the Turkish Straits, Akar said: “We continue to work with the (Turkish) presidency in close communication with the (Turkish) Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of National Defense. We will see the results in the coming period.”
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