NATO foreign ministers meet to discuss support for Turkey

BRUSSELS

NATO foreign ministers will discuss how to support Turkey in the aftermath of downing of a Russian aircraft as they gather at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday.

"NATO has for decades supported Turkey as a NATO ally and we have standing defense plans for Turkey," Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels ahead of the meeting on Tuesday.

The meeting comes after a Russian warplane was downed for violating Turkey’s airspace near the Syrian border on Nov. 24.

"We will discuss at this meeting how we can continue to support Turkey and continue to provide different kinds of measures," Stoltenberg said.

"[The] focus now should be on how we can deescalate, calm tensions, and address the need to improve strengthened mechanisms to avoid that kind of incidents we saw last week and create more predictability, more transparency so we avoid that kind of incidents," he said.

The foreign ministers will also discuss the situation in Afghanistan, relations with Russia and support for Ukraine and Montenegro’s bid to join the alliance.