Turkey shoots down Russian plane for 'violating airspace'

Turkish fighter jets have shot down a Russian plane after it failed to answer warnings and violated Turkish airspace near the border with Syria, the Turkish presidency has said.

The presidency said that the Russian plane was "downed under the rules of engagement because it violated the Turkish air space despite the warnings".

Reports said the plane had been warned 10 times in five minutes.

Moscow said that the jet was a Sukhoi Su-24, and insisted it did not enter Turkish space.

"Presumably as a result of firing, an Su-24 plane of the Russian forces crashed in the Syrian Arab Republic," Russian news agencies quoted the defence ministry as saying. 

The two crew ejected from the jet, but the defence ministry said the fate of the pilots was not yet clear.

Graphic footage posted to Twitter claimed to show one of the pilots lying dead on the ground, surrounded by Turkmen Syrian locals. 

Al Jazeera Arabic has reported that the other pilot has been captured, perhaps alive, by Turkmen forces.

The Turkmens in northern Syria are allied with rebel groups seeking the overthrow of Syrian President and Russian ally Bashar al-Assad.

The Russian defence ministry said: "The aircraft was flying only within the borders of the Syrian territory. That was registered by objective monitoring data."

The fighter jet exploded in the air and the fireball fell on a mountain on the Syrian side of the border, CNN-Turk and NTV televisions reported. 

A Turkish government official said Ankara would take the issue to the UN and NATO. 

"Necessary initiatives will be taken at NATO, UN and at the level of countries concerned by the foreign ministry upon instructions from Mr Prime Minister," a statement from Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's office said.

Russian fighter jets entered Turkish air space in two separate incidents in October, prompting Ankara to summon the Russian ambassador twice in protest

Turkey and Russia have long been at loggerheads over the Syrian conflict, with Ankara seeking the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad while Moscow is fighting to keep him in power.

The Turkish military in October also shot down a Russian-made drone that had entered its air space. But Moscow denied the drone belonged to its forces.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is due to visit Turkey on Wednesday in a bid to smooth ties and find a joint approach to finding peace in Syria.