Turkey sends Russia audio recordings of earlier ‘friendly fire’


The Turkish military provided Russia with the audio recordings of the incident on Feb. 9 when three Turkish soldiers were killed, with 11 others injured in an airstrike carried out by Russian warplanes near al-Bab.

Russian authorities had stated that the incident was an accident, expressing their grief and condolences. They contended that the coordinates were given by the Turkish military. However, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) said they had provided the accurate coordinates of its troops.

The army's statement said that Turkey shared the coordinates of its soldiers, who were located in the same building for 10 days, with Russia as a rocket was launched to a nearby area by Russian units on Feb. 8.

According to an article in the Hürriyet daily, the Turkish military also shared the audio recordings of the intelligence sharing. The article contends that the TSK had warned the Russian army about the coordinates of the military when a rocket launcher had hit them a day before the incident.

The Turkish military recorded the warning, which it recently shared with the Russian army.

Since the rocket launcher that had hit Turkish troops a day before was fired by the Assad regime, the article drew attention to the possibility that regime troops could have deceived the Russian military, leading to the bombardment of the Turkish soldiers.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin had spoken on the issue at the time. Calling Erdoğan to convey his condolences, Putin expressed that he was saddened by the attack.

Both Turkey and the Russian Federation have been conducting their own investigations into the incident.