President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said Turkey did not want any escalation with Russia over its downing of a Russian plane on the Syrian frontier but vowed to always defend Turkish borders.
"We have no intention to escalate this incident. We are just defending our security and the rights of our brothers," Erdogan said in a televised speech in Istanbul, adding that no one should expect Turkey "to remain silent" when its border security was violated.
Erdogan's remarks follow a series of harsh rebukes from Moscow, where the incident was described as a “stab in the back by the accomplices of terrorists."
"We will never tolerate such crimes like the one committed today," Russian President Vladimir Putin added.
The incident marks the first time a NATO member state has shot down a Russian plane since the Korean war.
Russia has warned tourists not to visit Turkey over the past 24 hours, and its defense ministry has cut contact with Ankara, the Guardian reports.
Turkish forces shot down a Russian plane on the Syrian border for allegedly violating Turkish air space on Tuesday, escalating tensions between Ankara and Moscow and endangering the lives of the two pilots. Russia then sent two military helicopters to the border region to search for the pilots; one was hit by rebel forces, killing a Russian marine.
One pilot was captured and killed by one of the Syrian rebel factions, it was revealed in the hours following the downing; the Russian ambassador to France, Alexander Konstantinovich Orlov, stated Wednesday that the second pilot had been rescued by the Syrian Army.
AFP contributed to this report.