Turkish military denies Russian claim on providing ‘mistaken’ coordinates in Syria

ANKARA

AFP photo

The Turkish military strongly denied a Russian claim that it provided ‘mistaken coordinates that led to the death of three Turkish soldiers in friendly fire on Feb. 9, saying that its elements were present in the same location for approximately 10 days.

“Finally, on  Feb. 8, after a rocket was fired from the region controlled by the Russian Federation at the point where friendly elements were located, the coordinates of the point where our elements were located was most recently transmitted again on the same day at 23.11 to the responsible personnel at the Hmeimim  Operation Center,” said the military. 

At the same time, the Russian Armed Forces Attaché in Ankara was invited to the headquarters of the General Staff, and once again the coordinates were given to him, it added.

Earlier, Russia had claimed the air strikes were launched based on coordinates provided to them by the Turkish military.

“Unfortunately, our military, while carrying out strikes on terrorists, were guided by coordinates given to them by our Turkish partners. Turkish servicemen should not have been present at those coordinates,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call with reporters on Feb. 10.

The Turkish military has been regularly and mutually sharing information with its Russian counterparts in regards to the Euphrates Shield Operation for a period of approximately one month in line with an agreement between the two countries signed on Jan. 12 with the aim of preventing troops from harming each other, said a written statement by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK).