Turkey Won’t Apologise For Downing Jet

Russia said Thursday that it would reinforce control over Turkish food imports citing frequent violations of safety standards, as tensions surged with Ankara over the downing of a Russian warplane on the Syrian border.

Speaking at an Organization of Islamic Cooperation economy meeting in Istanbul, Erdogan said that Turkey favours “peace, dialogue and diplomacy”.

His remarks came after Turkey released audio recordings of what it says are the Turkish military’s repeated warnings to the pilot before the jet was shot down.

By downing the Russian plane, Turkey had two things in mind.

He urged Islamic countries to stand together against Islamic State terror and not let terrorists misuse Islam.

But Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara did not need to apologise “on an occasion that we are right”, adding that he had already said “sorry” in a phone call with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

Russian media reported hundreds of trucks bringing Turkish goods stranded at the border. “It gives an impression that the Turkish leadership is deliberately driving Russian-Turkish relations into a deadlock, and we regret that”.

Turkey intends to protect ISIL, as it has direct financial interests involved in the delivery of oil extracted from ISIL-controlled territories.

Turkey obtains most of its energy from Russian Federation, and while ending those supplies would cause economic pain for Russian Federation, scrapping plans for Turkish Stream could be more expedient, says Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, director of the German Marshall Fund in Ankara.

Both Turkish Stream and the nuclear plant could become part of a sanctions package, Russian Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukaev said Thursday.

The post said the system will be installed at Syria’s Hmeymin airbase near Latakia, on Syria’s Mediterranean coast, as Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu promised Wednesday on his ministry’s Twitter feed. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the jet had been attacked when it was 1 kilometer inside Syria.

Erdogan said in Ankara: “We are strategic partners…”

He said Russian Federation has no room to talk because it is not taking on the terrorist outfit itself: “Russia is not engaged in a fight against Daesh in Syria”.

Turkey has defended its actions, saying that shooting down the plane was necessary for security. “We are saddened by this”, he said. Syrian rebel Turkmen forces apparently shot one of the two Russian pilots as he parachuted down, while another pilot was rescued by Syrian commandos.

Turkey shot down the Russian Su-24 military jet on Tuesday, insisting it had violated its airspace despite repeated warnings.

Even as Erdogan has insisted Turkey doesn’t want to escalate the situation, the anger in his words – and in Putin’s – demonstrate how the conflict in Syria has stoked a new wave of worldwide turbulence.

In retaliation for the downing, Russian Federation announced Wednesday it will deploy long-range air defence missiles to its base in Syria and destroy any target that may threaten its warplanes.