Coati wrote:Violating airspace is a legimite reason to intercept military aircraft and shoot them down after warning them. Where the aircraft is crashing does not change that. Remember Russia had been warned many times. So Turkey has every right to act. Besides, Russia had shot down a lot of aircraft during the cold war, because of airspace violation. Operating on the edge of borders is asking for trouble.
You know, there are international legal rules nowadays about using of violence while intercepting aircraft. Those have been upgraded and developped after Flight KAL-007 tragedy, in 1983. So Cold War scenarios are no longer valid.
Today, it may be legitimate to intercept an aircraft and "shadow" it until it leaves, but the use of violence, for the country involved, is strictly limited :
first, you have to be in so-called "legitime defense" (which means you or those you protect have been either shot at or targeted ; even with a limited knowledge of aviation, one knows that a Su-24 won't be a threat for an F-16 C) and
secondly even in this case, the violence you are using has to be proportional to the one you were facing (nobody said that the Russian crew made any use of violence against Turkish citizens, country or army).
Even if this Russian plane entered Turkish air space and even in the case of warnings, it is not a reason good enough to shot it down (especially after he left this air space or is on the way out) as no violence was used against Turkish.
You don' kill people just because they entered during a short time in your "garden".
May I remind you that "violations" of air space occur
daily in Europe and elswhere ? They are most of the time unwanted, caused by navigations mistakes, or technical systems disorders.
Following your opinion, would it be acceptable to shoot down each of those planes ? I guess no, because they do not threat anybody right ? Just like yesterday.
It is not a relevant point as the conditions of legitime defense were not fullfilled, but anyway, I have to add that until now, as far as I konw, just the Turkish government said the russian crew has been warned. I won't take this as an evidence ... Asked about this, NATO didn't give any information, just answering that "we have information consistent with the ones provided by Turkey". Quite "light".
It looks like there is an evolution this morning, as both NATO and Turkish government, are extremely "moderate" about this situation. It also gives some impression about the fact that nobody feels comfortable with what happened.
It is maybe the reason why today, at ATC, some reminders about the procedure to strictly follow in the case of A-A intercept have been provided...
Regarding the murder of one crew, I guess it is useless to comment. Just one more disgusting war crime.
