[Uncle Peter]

The Russians are not entirely blameless here. They have been warned on a number of occasions about airspace incursions. The excuse of "navigational error" does not cut it, even in a rickety old crate like an SU24 which still has modern avionics despite the age of the airframe.

Operating that close to the Turkish border, is a recipe for disaster considering primary radar is not entirely accurate.

Let's also not forget the nefarious practice of removing the standard vvs markings from Russian aircraft currently operating in Syria: there is no excuse nor justification for this. That aircraft could have been Syrian or Iranian after visual id for all those Turkish pilots knew not to mention the fact that the Russian pilots did not bother or weren't following the correct RT procedures.