Why Did Turkish Forces Shoot Down a Russian Bomber?

Last week, a Turkish Air Force F-16 shot down a Russian bomber allegedly flying over South Western Turkish territory. The Russians deny that their aircraft violated Turkish airspace. Accusations were made by both sides as to whether the bomber crossed a border, though no maps or data were put out to prove either contention. The Pilot and co-pilot were fired upon while parachuting which is a war crime, but the Turkish forces on the ground in Syria would argue that point. The rebels on the ground fired on helicopters trying to rescue the aircrew. The Russians did manage to rescue one of the aircrew. He claimed that the bomber was shot down with no warning from the Turks for allegedly violating their airspace. A day later Turkey released a tape countering Russian accusations.

Russia is encouraging its citizens in Turkey to leave and cutting trade and agreements with the Muslim nation. Turkey has been arresting and deporting Russians living within its borders. Russia has beefed up Syrian air defenses with S-400 Triumf state-of-the art air defense missile systems. The tensions created by the shoot down may lead to a much bigger war. If Turkey decides to attack Russian forces in Syria, NATO could get involved.

The Turkish government ordered the arrest of two news editors because they published claims that Turkey has been supplying anti-Assad, Syrian Rebels. The journalists were rounded up and accused in an Istanbul court. For years Turkeyâ€™s intelligence agency has been supplying weapons...

From 2012: Syria shoots down Turkish plane

"Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has threatened Syria with retaliation for shooting down a military jet, and warned that Turkish armed forces will respond to any Syrian encroachment on the border.

Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance stands by Turkey but is not considering a military response."

http://www.theguardian.com/world/middle-east-live/2012/jun/26/syria-crisis-nato-meeting-live
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Graphic showing the where the Turkish F-4 Phantom went down
Graphic showing where the Turkish F-4 Phantom went down

From Aug 23, 2015:

"a recent investigation conducted by Novaya Gazeta, one of the few independent newspapers left in Russia, complicates this cozy tale of counterterrorist cooperation. Based on extensive fieldwork in one village in the North Caucasus, reporter Elena Milashina has concluded that the "Russian special services have controlled" the flow of jihadists into Syria, where they have lately joined up not only with ISIS but other radical Islamist factions.

In other words, Russian officials are adding to the ranks of terrorists which the Russian government has deemed a collective threat to the security and longevity of its dictatorial ally on the Mediterranean, Bashar al-Assad."

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/23/russia-s-playing-a-double-game-with-islamic-terror0.html
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Understanding Provocation [Provokatsiya]

March 29, 2014

One of the most powerful tools the Kremlin has in its secret arsenal of Special War is provocation, what they call provokatsiya.

While Moscow cannot claim to have invented this technique, which has existed as long as there have been secret services, there's no doubt that Russians have perfected the art and taken it to a whole new level of sophistication and deviousness. At times, it can become a strategy all on its own (not always, mind you, with edifying results).

Provokatsiya simply means taking control of your enemies in secret and encouraging them to do things that discredit them and help you. You plant your own agents provocateurs and flip legitimate activists [in this case, dupe actual Jihadis -ETL], turning them to your side.

When you're dealing with extremists to start with, getting them to do crazy, self-defeating things isn't often difficult. In some cases, you simply create extremists and terrorists where they don't exist. This is causing problems in order to solve them, and since the Tsarist period, Russian intelligence has been known to do just that.

While this isn't a particularly nice technique, it works surprisingly well, particularly if you don't care about bloody and messy consequences. ..."

http://20committee.com/2014/03/29/understanding-provocation/
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In other words, it's like starting a fire, or pouring gasoline on a fire, in order to be the 'big hero', being first on the scene to put it out. Except in this case, you get to grab control over the buildings and town you helped 'saved' from the fire you helped to start.

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