Cameron speaks on Turkey's 'right to defend airspace'

LONDON

British Prime Minister David Cameron has told MPs in the House of Commons that the U.K. should "respect Turkey’s right to protect its airspace just as we defend our own".

Cameron was answering questions from MPs on Wednesday a day after Turkish F-16s downed a Russian warplane which violated Turkish airspace.

"The facts from this are not yet clear; I think we should respect Turkey's right to protect its airspace just as we defend our own. But it is very important that we get to the bottom of what has really happened," Cameron said.

On Tuesday, two Turkish F-16 fighter jets on an aerial patrol intercepted a Russian warplane within engagement rules when it intruded into Turkish airspace near the Turkey-Syria border.

The intruding aircraft was warned about the violation 10 times within five minutes before it was shot down.

Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed that one of its Russian SU-24 fighter jets had been shot down, crashing in the Syrian region of Bayirbucak close to the Yayladagi district of Turkey’s southern Hatay province.

NATO confirmed the accuracy of the radar trace data that Turkey shared which clearly showed that the Russian warplane violated Turkish airspace.

This was not the first time Russian fighter jets had violated Turkish airspace. In early October, Russian warplanes had breached Turkish airspace for which Russian officials apologized and pledged that no such incident would be repeated.

Turkey had also renewed its warning to implement engagement rules, including military response against violations of Turkish airspace.