While speaking at a business forum in Istanbul, Erdogan added that Turkey had only acted in self defense of its internal security and that of the "rights of our brothers" inside Syria. The area where the plane was shot over is home to Turkmen, who live in Syria, but have traditionally been very close to Turkey.

Erdogan further reiterated that the Russian jet was shot while inside Turkish territory, but crashed inside Syria. He alleged that two Turkish citizens inside Turkey had been injured by some parts and debris of the Russian jet as it crashed.

Erdogan's comments came even as Russia announced that it had deployed a guided warship off the Syrian Mediterranean Coast, according to The Independent.

The Moskva, a large missile cruiser formerly based in the Black Sea has been ordered to destroy and neutralize any targets that may "pose danger to its interests." The destroyer was also tasked with providing extra aerial support for Russian forces operating inside Syria.

The Moskva is one of Russia's deadliest naval destroyers, and has been previously deployed to tackle piracy in the Indian Ocean, and enforce a blockade of the Ukrainian fleet during the Crimea annexation as well as during the Georgia War of 2008.

It also emerged that one of the two pilots who were in the downed Russian jet had been rescued overnight by a joint team of Syrian and Russian Special Forces, according to Reuters.

Syria's state news agency, SANA, said that the pilot was rescued from rebels operating in the area around where the plane crashed.

Syrian Special forces "last night carried out a joint operation with Russian special forces, penetrating four to five kilometers into areas where terrorists are located, and were able to save one of the pilots of the Russian plane", SANA reported. The pilot was safe inside a military base in Syria, SANA added.