Turkey will not apologise for downing Russian warplane: Erdogan

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said Turkey did not want any escalation with Russia over its downing of a Russian plane on the Syrian frontier but vowed to always defend Turkish borders.

Stepping up his criticism, Putin also accused political leaders of Turkey of encouraging the “Islamization” of Turkish society, calling it a “much deeper problem” that the downing of the Russian plane.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russia was still awaiting a reasonable answer from Ankara as to why it downed a Russian fighter jet, adding that it is not considering sanctions against Turkey or imposing a food import embargo.

But Mr Erdogan was quoted as saying on the CNN website: “Those who violated our airspace are the ones who need to apologise”.

While the Russian Ministry of Defense has provided video evidence proving that the bomber never entered Turkish airspace, Ankara’s claim alleges that the incursion occurred for only 17 seconds.

Russian Federation has been carrying out airstrikes in the region since weekend. “Change your heading south immediately”, a voice says in broken English.

The crew ejected and one pilot was shot dead by rebels as he parachuted to the ground.

Two Russian servicemen died after the Russian SU-24 plane crashed into a mountainside on Syrian soil on Tuesday after being hit by a missile from a Turkish F-16 fighter jet. You are approaching Turkish airspace. “Nor do we hear proposals to fix the damage or promises to punish the perpetrators for the committed crime”, Putin said.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on November 26 to urge calm and dialogue between Turkey and Russia after the incident.

French President Francois Hollande was travelling to Moscow on Thursday to shore up support for action against the Islamic State group, which killed 129 people in attacks in Paris earlier this month.

The checks on all supplies coming into Russian Federation from Turkey means that while imports will continue, they could be significantly delayed. Turkey is part of that coalition and they had to know it was the Russian airforce working in that area.