​British Prime Minister: We should respect the right of Turkey to defend its airspace

Baku. 25 November. REPORT.AZ/ David Cameron has urged his Turkish counterpart to ensure that Ankara maintains direct communications with Moscow to avoid an escalation in tensions after Turkish fighter jets shot down a Russian warplane.

Report informs citing the foreign media, Ahmet Davutoglu phoned Mr Cameron and explained that Turkey had taken protective action after the Russian jet was warned "several times" not to violate Turkish airspace, said Downing Street.

Nato said its "stands in solidarity" with Turkey and called for "calm and de-escalation" after holding an emergency session in response to the incident.

Asked if the jet had been shot down over Turkey, Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said: "The allied assessments we have got from several allies during the day are consistent with the information we have been provided with from Turkey."

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of "significant consequences for Russian-Turkish relations".

Mr Cameron's official spokeswoman told a Westminster media briefing that in the 10-minute call, Mr Davutoglu "explained what had happened - that they had a Russian jet flying there, they had warned it several times not to violate Turkish air space, but it had then proceeded to do so and consequently they had taken action to protect their air space".

The spokeswoman added: "The Prime Minister strongly encouraged Prime Minister Davutoglu to make sure there was direct communication between the Turks and Russians on this, so a clearer understanding could be formed of what had happened and how to avoid this happening in the future and to avoid an escalation."

"It doesn't change two important factors, which are the threat posed by Isil to the UK and the need to work in a coalition to be doing more - and the Prime Minister has said he believes in doing more - in Syria," said Mr Cameron's spokeswoman.