On 24 November 2015 a Turkish F-16 fighter shot down a Russian Su-24 bomber on the border with Syria. In an instant this incident destroyed Russian–Turkish relations, which even a day earlier had been on a higher level than ever before in the history of the two countries over the past century. It can be said that 24 November 2015 opened a new page in the history of the two countries’ relationship, recalling the days of the Cold War. The Russian bomber, which was stationed at a military base in Syria, where Russian ships and aircraft have long been based and by all appearances will continue to be based, was shot down for violating Turkish airspace for 17 seconds. Moreover, as the Russian side maintained, “the plane was shot down four kilometres from the border, inside Syr ...
It finally happened. November 24th, 2015 became a turning point for the Russian-Turkish relations. The two sides will probably never agree with each other on who is to blame for the SU-24 tragedy and on whether this was an unfortunate accident or a deliberately planned action. However, at least one thing should be clear to everybody: a long optimistic chapter in the bilateral relationship is over, and we are entering a new, still very unclear and potentially very dangerous period. From now on, there’ll be no business as usual between Moscow and Ankara. But how can we define this “business as usual”? If the Russian-Turkish cooperation was so great prior to November 24th, then why one single accident – no matter how dramatic and emotionally sensitive it might had been – turned out to be suf ...
