And the Russian pilots understood English? And they knew that how?
It’s the international language of aviation. You expect Russians to know Turkish?
“The warning does not say they are in their airspace.”
The Turkish air traffic controller warned the pilot of what was then an unidentified aircraft to immediately divert on a new heading to the South by the authority of the Turkish Air Force. This warning and command was broadcast of the guard channel every pilot is required to monitor for emergency air traffic control instructions, such as this warning to immediately change course. Given the imminent danger, this warning was clear and easily understood to imply the Turkish Air Force would fire upon the unidentified aircraft if its pilot did not take and immediate southern heading to avoid Turkish air space and Turkish air defenses.
“And the Russian pilots understood English? And they knew that how?”
The English language is the mandatory international language to be used by all licensed pilots and aviation authorities worldwide to avoid misunderstandings in radio communications. Every licensed Russian commercial and military pilot is required to be proficient with enough of the English language to conduct radio communications with all air traffic control and ICAO authorities. Every licensed pilot is required to monitor the radio communications guard channel as required by the ICAO and numerous international agreements.
The Russian aircrew disregarded the Turkish Air Force warnings, did not hear the Turkish Air Force warnings because they neglected to monitor the guard channel, were ordered to disregard warnings on the guard channel, or had their available radio frequencies in their radio sets restricted by their command as they formerly did in the Soviet era to prevent unauthorized communications by the pilots (highly unlikely in this day and age). In any case, the Russian pilots know/knew enough English and enough about ICAO rules to be aware of their responsibilities to identify their aircraft to air traffic controllers, monitor the guard channel, and not to overfly Turkish airspace without being willing to suffer the consequences for doing so.
The Russian government is lying.
Aviation communication world wide by international convention is conducted in English, at least at the level of commercial and civil air, and I’d expect it’s the lingua franca for warning off “errant” military aircraft as well. The French are probably still offended by this, but they do have “Mayday” (m’aidez = “Help Me”) as the ultimate emergency message.
English is the international language of aviation
“The warning does not say they are in their airspace.”
The warning was so the SU-24 would turn back before entering Turkish airspace - which is a no-fly zone from Syria.
“And the Russian pilots understood English? And they knew that how?”
English is the international language in general, and of aviation in particular. All international air traffic control is conducted in English, and pilots had better be conversant in it.
all ground to pilot and pilot to.ground communication everywhere in the entire world is in English specifically aviation English it is the official language of aviation. Every pilot that gets a license is required to pass an aviation English proficiency exam. every nation that is a member state of the IACO also ensures that every pilot it has can converse to ATC in aviation English, Russia is a member of the IACO which is civilian but its military pilots are held to the same standards, most of Russia’s civil aviation pilots are former military members as well.
All pilots speak English. English is the language of aviation.