A retired Following the Turkish basketball team Fenerbahce's defeat in the May 15 Euroleague title game at the hands of Russia’s CSKA, Turkish politician Samil Tayyar tweeted that he wanted to shoot down one more Russian plane, referring to a November 2015 downing of a Russian Su-24 by Turkish military aircraft.
"I want to shoot down one more Russian jet!" the politician declared.
İnsanın bir Rus uçağı daha düşüresi geliyor!
— Şamil Tayyar (@samiltayyar27) 15 мая 2016 г.
After his remark sparked a wave of criticism in both Turkish and Russian media, Tayyar quickly claimed that he was merely joking.
"As a person who thinks that we shouldn’t have shot down the Russian plane, why would I suggest repeating that very mistake? If this is the level of discussion that we’re having, I must point out – it was a joke," the politician tweeted in response to his critics.
Rus uçağının düşürülmesini yanlış bulan birisi olarak ikinci yanlışı neden savunayım? Düzey buysa artık 'espri,şaka' diye dipnot düşeceğim.
— Şamil Tayyar (@samiltayyar27) 16 мая 2016 г.
Meanwhile, Retired Divisional Admiral Türker Ertürk, former head of Turkish Naval Academy, told Sputnik that Tayyar’s statement was utterly irresponsible.
"Such statements coming from an MP are unacceptable, even if they were a joke. A responsible citizen and a self-respecting MP would never say something like that. Russia is our neighbor, and our countries enjoy close historical relations. Considering the current situation, following the Russian basketball team’s victory one should’ve said that we should do our utmost to restore ties, and that such sporting events should help achieve this goal. But instead we get this inappropriate statement. It is shameful," Ertürk said.
On November 24, 2015, a Turkish F-16 fighter shot down a Russian Su-24 combat jet over Syria, which fell 2.5 miles south of the Turkish border. In response to the incident, Russia introduced a set of measures against Turkey, which ban or restrict the activities of Turkish organizations in Russia, prohibit Russian citizens from employing Turkish citizens, ban charter flights to Turkey which had been favored for years by millions of Russian package tourists, and prohibit certain food imports.
