Turkey To Hand Over Body Of Dead Russian Pilot To Moscow

At Russia’s request, the pilot had been given Orthodox funeral rites, and his body would be handed over to Russia, Turkey’s semi-official Anadolu news agency reported.

One Russian pilot was killed by Syrian rebels as he parachuted to the ground, while the other was rescued and returned safely to the Khmeimim airbase.

The plane crashed into a rebel-held area in northern Syria on Tuesday.

The body of the Russian will be prepared in accordance with tradition before being given to Moscow, Xinhua quoted Davutoglu as saying in Ankara before his departure for the EU-Turkey Summit.

Both United States along with other allies, including Turkey, as well as Russian Federation are carrying out air campaigns against Islamic State and other groups.

It also calls for ending charter flights from Russia to Turkey and for Russian tourism companies to stop selling vacation packages that would include a stay in Turkey.

“Still, Turkey has responded with steps to try to de-escalate the situation, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressing “sadness” numerous times, but refusing to apologize”. He also said he hopes something like this does not happen again.

Putin is likely to meet US President Barack Obama for informal talks on the margins of the climate conference in Paris, the Kremlin said.

The countries disagree sharply on whether the Russian plane was in Turkish airspace when it was shot down, as well as whether any warnings went out to the crew.

After days of tough talk in the wake of the incident, Erdogan struck a more conciliatory tone Saturday, saying that his government was “really saddened” by the matter, and insisting that he did not want to ramp up tensions.

The dispute is threatening Turkish-Russian ties and raising fears of a wider global conflict.

Reporting from Moscow, NPR’s Corey Flintoff says the incident has chilled relations between the two countries.