Arif Rahimzade, head of the delegation of Azerbaijan to the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Union (Source: IPA CIS Council)
PETERSBURG (ArmInfo)—At a press conference following the 43rd plenary session of the Commonwealth of Independent States’ (CIS) Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, the heads of the delegations of member states, with the exception of Azerbaijan, condemned the downing of a Russian military plane by Turkey on November 24, 2015 near the Syrian border.
ArmInfo’s correspondent reports in St. Petersburg that Speaker of the Federation Council of the Russian Federal Assembly, Valentina Matviyenko, said at the press conference that the downing of the Russian plane was a “crime.” Matviyenko stressed that the incident took place over Syrian territory.
“But even if we suppose that the Russian plane was in the air space of Turkey for a few seconds, Ankara had no right to shoot it down, it should have only given warnings,” Matviyenko said, stating that Moscow is still waiting for an apology from Ankara.
For his part, Russian lawmaker Oleg Lebedev said that relatives of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, including his son, have very close ties with ISIS leadership.
The heads of all the delegations to the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly shared their Russian colleagues’ sentiments and unanimously condemned the incident. Eduard Sharmazanov, member of the Armenian delegation to the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, Vice Speaker of the Armenian Parliament, stressed that over the past 100 years since the Armenian Genocide, Turkey has not changed its criminal policy.
Meanwhile, Arif Ragimzade, head of the Azerbaijani delegation, did not say a single word during the press conference. He was the only representative who did not speak on the issue.
Source: Asbarez
Link: Azerbaijan Refrains from Condemning Downing of Russian Plane by Turkey
