By Yesim Dikmen and Polina Devlitt
TURKISH President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday the climate change summit in Paris next week could be a chance to repair relations with Moscow after Turkey shot down a Russian jet near the Syrian border on Tuesday.
Erdogan has said Turkey would not apologise for downing the jet, which resulted in the death of one of the pilots. Because of this, Russian President Vladimir Putin has refused to contact Erdogan over the incident.
But Moscow has retaliated with economic sanctions on Turkey and has retracted visa-free travel between the two countries.
“The recent events really saddened us,” Erdogan said in a televised speech in the western city of Baliksehir. However, he stopped short of the apology demanded by Russia.
Erdogan has said Turkey deserves the apology because its air space was violated by the Russian aircraft.
“On Monday in Paris there will be an international climate summit, that can be a chance to repair our relations with Russia. Confrontation will not bring anyone happiness. As much as Russia is important for Turkey, Turkey is important for Russia,” Erdogan said.
Turkish government spokesman Numan Kurtulmus said Turkey is deliberating which measures to take in light of Russia’s retaliatory steps.
Putin meanwhile is fully mobilised to tackle what the Kremlin regards as an unprecedented threat from Turkey, the Russian leader’s spokesman said on Saturday.
In comments which underscore how angry the Kremlin still is over the incident, Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, called the behaviour of the Turkish air force “absolute madness” and said Ankara’s subsequent handling of the crisis had reminded him of the “theatre of the absurd.”
“Nobody has the right to traitorously shoot down a Russian plane from behind,” Peskov told Russia’s ‘News on Saturday’ TV programme, calling Turkish evidence purporting to show the Russian SU-24 jet had violated Turkish air space “cartoons”.
Peskov said the crisis had prompted Putin to “mobilise” in the way an army does in tense times.
“The president is mobilised, fully mobilised, mobilised to the extent that circumstances demand,” said Peskov.
“The circumstances are unprecedented. The gauntlet thrown down to Russia is unprecedented. So naturally the reaction is in line with this threat.”
Peskov said Putin was aware of a Turkish request for him to meet President Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the Paris climate change conference next week but gave no indication of whether such a meeting would take place.
