BRUSSELS — The EU and NATO have urged Ankara and Moscow to avoid escalation in the bitter row over Turkey's shooting down of a Russian fighter, which risks jeopardizing Brussels' hopes that both countries can help ease the refugee crisis and combat the Islamic State group.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's outspoken condemnation of the Islamic State group's attacks on Paris have raised hopes that Russia could play an important role in attacking the terrorists' bases in Syria and Iraq, while NATO member Turkey's help is key to controlling the influx of refugees.
But Turkish-Russian relations have suddenly nosedived following the downing of the Russian aircraft.
Former Polish Prime Minister and current European Council President Donald Tusk, who will host a special EU-Turkey summit in Brussels on Sunday in another attempt to resolve the ongoing migrant crisis engulfing Europe, said: "At this dangerous moment after downing of Russian jet, all should remain cool-headed and calm." said the former Polish PM.
His comments are endorsed by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who held a specially convened meeting of the alliance on Tuesday to discuss the incident .
He said he had "previously expressed concerns about the Russian military activities close to the border of a NATO country."
Stoltenberg called for de-escalation and "more contacts between Moscow and Ankara to avoid these kind of incidents in the future."
"This highlights the importance of having and respecting arrangements to avoid such incidents in the future," he said. "As we have repeatedly made clear, we stand in solidarity with Turkey and support the territorial integrity of our NATO Ally, Turkey.
"We will continue to follow the developments on the South-Eastern borders of NATO very closely. I look forward to further contacts between Ankara and Moscow and call for calm and de-escalation. Diplomacy and de-escalation are important to resolve this situation."
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, meanwhile, said she had spoken to Stoltenberg about the issue. "Need to avoid escalation #Turkey #Russia," the former Italian foreign minister tweeted.
The European Commission, the executive arm of the 28-nation EU, said in a statement that it was "following developments closely" and "trying to find out exactly what happened."
Further comment came from leading MEP Richard Howitt, the Socialist and Democrat Group Foreign Affairs spokesman in the European Parliament, who said: "The downing of the Russian jet is a further very worrying sign of the potential for the further escalation of the Syrian conflict, and must be a warning to use the Vienna peace process, the agreement over the UN resolution and this weekend's EU-Turkey summit to find better ways to coordinate international action to avoid further such incidents.
"Our first reaction should be deep concern at reports that the pilots may have died, and we mourn this loss, as we mourn all loss of life; that we must stand by our Turkish allies that their airspace should be respected if this is proven to have been violated; but that common international agreement in the fight against [the Islamic State group] ISIS and to resolve conflict in Syria is even more urgent and necessary."
Martin Banks covered the European Union, NATO and affairs in Belgium for Defense News.
