The Turkish pilots, who downed the Russian jet on November 24, made that decision on their own. There is information that they also took part in the bombardment of civilian objects during the coup d'etat.

This new version of the happening was presented by the Turkish PM Mehmet Şimşek in Moscow, Interfax reports.

“As to the happenings of November 24, [it should be said that] during a long period Syrian jets downed Turkish оnes, thus we changed the rules of reacting to the jets in Turkey’s air space. The authority to down jets was brought down to the level of pilots. The pilots decided to down the jet on their own…There was no information on the national affiliation of the downed jet,” he said at a press-conference in Moscow.

In Şimşek’s words, there is also information that “the same pilots took part in the bombardment of civilian objects during the coup d’état. Now they are being checked: I don’t want to take on the functions of the judicial authorities.”