Why did Turkey shoot down that Russian warplane?

[eridani]

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/12/11/so-why-did-turkey-shoot-down-russian-plane

It was certainly not because the SU-24 posed any threat. The plane is old and slow, and the Russians were careful not to arm it with anti-aircraft missiles. And it wasn’t because the Turks are quick on the trigger, either. Three years ago, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan emphatically declared that a “short-term violation of airspace can never be a pretext for an attack.” There are even some doubts about whether the Russian plane ever crossed into Turkey’s airspace at all.

Indeed, the whole November 24 incident looks increasingly suspicious, and one doesn’t have to be a paranoid Russian to think the takedown might have been an ambush. As retired Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney, former U.S. Air Force chief of staff, told Fox News, “This airplane was not making any maneuvers to attack the [Turkish] territory.” He called the Turkish action “overly aggressive” and concluded that the incident “had to be preplanned.”

It certainly puzzled the Israeli military, not known for taking a casual approach to military intrusions. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon told the press on November 29 that a Russian warplane had violated the Israeli border over the Golan Heights. “Russian planes do not intend to attack us, which is why we must not automatically react and shoot them down when an error occurs.”

So why was the plane downed?

Perhaps because, for the first time in four years, some major players are tentatively inching toward a settlement of the catastrophic Syrian civil war, and powerful forces are maneuvering to torpedo that process. If the Russians hadn’t kept their cool, several nuclear-armed powers could well have found themselves in a scary faceoff, and any thoughts of ending the war would have gone a-glimmering.

[rjsquirrel]

1. Without a "who"

that "why" is pure barstool speculative bullshit.

[HereSince1628]

2. Among the speculation, the who has often been Turkey and Ottoman revivalism

which has a number of old pegs in the newstream.

Back ~2008, Turkey's pivot away from Europe had Turkey as a close partner of Syria. It's not really clear to me if Turkish nationalism would ever push for the return of the Sultans, but there are elements of the Russian friendly media appear to want to finger Turkish involvement and are in search of a motive.

[rjsquirrel]

3. That's not a "who"

Who inside Turkey?

Or this is CT speculation.