SHAFAQNA – Following Turkey’s downing of a Russian plane over Syria the issue of territorial sovereignty, political legitimacy and the war on terror have been under much scrutiny – especially since it appeared Turkey’s motivations against Russia were to protect ISIL, and not, as its official claimed, to protect Turkey’s borders.
To better weigh on the issue Shafaqna conducted an interview with retired Colonel Edward Sommerson a former US diplomat.
“Turkey must have been eager to shoot down a Russian aircraft. Even going by the Turkish account of what happened, as illustrated by a Turkish map of the route of the Russian plane, it would only briefly have been in Turkish airspace as it crossed a piece of Turkish territory that projects into Syria,” said Col. Sommerson.
“And so if we are to assume that Turkey was indeed looking for an opportunity to strike Russia, we must therefore imply that its motives are related to those interests it is trying to protect or pursue in Syria,” the veteran diplomat added.
The full transcript of the interview will follow soon.