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 It was the first time a NATO member's armed forces have downed a
Russian or Soviet military aircraft since the 1950s and Russian and
Turkish assets fell on fears of an escalation between the former
Cold War enemies.
A Kremlin spokesman said it was a "very serious incident" but that
it was too early to draw conclusions.
Footage from private Turkish broadcaster Haberturk TV showed the
warplane going down in flames in a woodland area, a long plume of
smoke trailing behind it. The plane went down in area known by Turks
as "Turkmen Mountain", it said.
Separate footage from Turkey's Anadolu Agency showed two pilots
parachuting out of the jet before it crashed. A Syrian rebel group
sent a video to Reuters that appeared to show one of the pilots
immobile and badly wounded on the ground and an official from the
group said he was dead.
Russia's defense ministry said one of its Su-24 fighter jets had
been downed in Syria and that, according to preliminary information,
the pilots were able to eject. It said the aircraft had been over
Syria for the duration of its flight.
 The Turkish military said the aircraft had been warned 10 times in
the space of five minutes about violating Turkish airspace.
Officials said a second plane had also approached the border and
been warned.
"The data we have is very clear. There were two planes approaching
our border, we warned them as they were getting too close," a senior
Turkish official told Reuters.
"We warned them to avoid entering Turkish airspace before they did,
and we warned them many times. Our findings show clearly that
Turkish airspace was violated multiple times. And they violated it
knowingly," the official said.
A second official said the incident was not an action against any
specific country but a move to defend Turkey's sovereign territory
within its rules of engagement.
SECOND PILOT
Russia's decision to launch separate air strikes in Syria mean
Russian and NATO planes have been flying combat missions in the same
air space for the first time since World War Two, targeting various
insurgent groups close to Turkish borders.
The downing of the jet appeared to scupper hopes of a rapprochement
between Russia and the West in the wake of the Islamic State attacks
in Paris, which led to calls for a united front against the radical
jihadist group in Syria.
Russia's main stock index fell more than two percent, while Turkish
stocks fell 1.3 percent. Both the rouble and lira were weaker.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was briefed by the head of the
military, while Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu ordered consultations
with NATO, the United Nations and related countries, their
respective offices said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the
warplane crashed in a mountainous area in the northern countryside
of Latakia province, where there had been aerial bombardment earlier
and where pro-government forces have been battling insurgents on the
ground.
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"A Russian pilot," a voice is heard saying in the video sent to
Reuters as men gather around the man on the ground. "God is great,"
is also heard.
The rebel group that sent the video operates in the northwestern
area of Syria, where groups including the Free Syrian Army are
active but Islamic State, which has beheaded captives in the past,
has no known presence.
The official from the group, who declined to be named for security
reasons, did not mention the second Russian pilot.
Broadcaster CNN Turk earlier reported that one of the pilots was in
the hands of Turkmen forces in Syria who were looking for the other
one, citing local sources. Russian military helicopters were also
searching for the pilots, Turkey's Dogan news agency said.
Both Russia and its ally, Syria's government, have carried out
strikes in the area. A Syrian military source said the reported
downing was being investigated.
Turkey called this week for a U.N. Security Council meeting to
discuss attacks on Turkmens in neighboring Syria, and last week
Ankara summoned the Russian ambassador to protest the bombing of
their villages.
Ankara has traditionally expressed solidarity with Syrian Turkmens,
who are Syrians of Turkish descent.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is due to visit Turkey on
Wednesday to discuss Syria, in a trip arranged before this incident.
Erdogan is meanwhile expected to visit Russia for talks with Putin
in late December.
About 1,700 people have fled the mountainous Syrian area near to the
Turkish border as a result of fighting in the last three days, a
Turkish official said on Monday. Russian jets have bombed the area
in support of ground operations by Syrian government forces.
(Additional reporting by Daren Butler, Melih Aslan and Asli Kandemir
in Istanbul, Orhan Coskun in Ankara, Maria Kiselyova and Vladimir
Soldatkin in Moscow, Tom Perry and Sylvia Westall in Beirut; Writing
by Nick Tattersall and David Dolan; Editing by Andrew Heavens and
Philippa Fletcher)
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