Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoganThinkstock

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday agreed on the need to reduce tensions and prevent a repeat of similar incidents after Turkish forces shot down a Russian plane on the Syrian border for allegedly violating Turkish air space, the presidency said.

"They were in accord on the importance of de-escalating tensions and making arrangements to prevent a repeat of such incidents," the Turkish presidency said in a statement following telephone talks between the two leaders, according to AFP.

The statement said that Obama had emphasized in the telephone talks that Turkey's right to defend its sovereignty was "supported by the United States and NATO".

They also expressed their commitment to a bringing about a transitional political process for peace in Syria and joint determination to continue the fight against Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists, the statement added.

Turkish forces earlier shot down a Russian Su-24 warplane near the Syrian border, Moscow confirmed, although it denied that the jet had crossed the border into Turkey from Syria.

The Turkish army said that the plane had violated Turkish airspace 10 times within a five minute period and was shot down by two Turkish F-16s. However Russia insisted that the plane was inside Syrian airspace.

Russian President Vladimir Putin later warned Turkey of "serious consequences" for ties between the two countries.

Putin said the plane fell in Syrian territory four kilometers (2.5 miles) from the border with Turkey and "did not in any way threaten Turkey."

"Today's tragic event will have serious consequences for Russian-Turkish relations," he warned.

European Union (EU) president Donald Tusk later called for calm, saying, "In this dangerous moment after downing of Russian jet, all should remain cool headed and calm."

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini meanwhile said she had spoken to Jens Stoltenberg, the head of the NATO military alliance of which Turkey is a member.

"Need to avoid escalation #Turkey #Russia," the former Italian foreign minister tweeted.