ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

The Nov. 24 downing of a Russian fighter jet that violated Turkey’s border with Syria by the Turkish military was planned, according to a senior figure from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).

“It is seen that the downing of the Russian jet was decided and planned earlier, and it was just implemented yesterday,” said İdris Baluken, the opposition party’s deputy chair, on Nov. 25.

“What we saw yesterday is a scene from a planned policy,” he said.

The AKP [Justice and Development Party] has shown in its insistent practices that it is a part of the war in Syria,” he said.

“The real matter about the downing of the jet is that the AKP feels the need to intervene in operations against some gangs such as Ahrar al-Sham and al-Nusra” he said, claiming that the AKP was not actually concerned about Syria’s Turkmens.

The government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have said recent Russian operations in Syria were not targeting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) but Turkmens in the north of the country.

“The AKP did not raise its voice when Turkmens were being killed in Mosul and Telafar in 2014,” Baluken said, referring to 2014 ISIL attacks targeting Iraq’s heavily-populated Turkmen areas.

Baluken was speaking at a press conference in parliament before the announcing of the new government program and said the Turkish people had already seen the content of the program in the government’s recent moves.

Baluken also stated eight civilians were killed in the town of Nusaybin, which entered its 13th day under curfew. The town is located in the southeastern province of Mardin.

November/25/2015