OPINION:
If anyone has forgotten, Turkey is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance, where the United States and other members have a duty to come to Turkey’s aid if the alliance receives an Article 5 treaty request. An attack on one alliance member is considered an attack on all. Geopolitical analysts have wondered if Russia’s response to Turkey shooting down a Russian fighter plane would draw NATO into a conflict with the Russian Federation.
This scenario became frightening closer Saturday as Reuters reported on comments by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who called the behavior of the Turkish air force “absolute madness” and said Ankara’s subsequent handling of the crisis had reminded him of the “theater of the absurd.”
“Nobody has the right to traitorously shoot down a Russian plane from behind,” Mr. Peskov told Russia’s “News on Saturday” TV program, calling Turkish evidence purporting to show the Russian Su-24 jet had violated Turkish air space “cartoons.”
“The president is mobilized, fully mobilized, mobilized to the extent that circumstances demand,” Mr. Peskov said. “The circumstances are unprecedented. The gauntlet thrown down to Russia is unprecedented. So naturally the reaction is in line with this threat.”
Russia’s Permanent Representative at NATO Alexander Grushko said on Friday, “I think the NATO countries are aware that Turkey is dragging them into a dangerous game by this criminal action, since this ally (Turkey) is bound with all the 20 NATO member states by very serious security liabilities both in the military and in the political spheres, and the key article — Article 5 — creates a threat of a risk to the alliance,” he said in an interview with the Kommersant FM radio station.
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