Obama asks Turkey, Russia to ease tension and focus on fighting ISIS

Erdogan, who has demanded that Russian President Vladimir Putin provide evidence to back up charges Ankara trades in oil with IS, said he too was keen to move on.

In response to the attacks, Obama has pledged the US will intensify its military campaign against ISIS while urging Putin to focus his country’s airstrikes in Syria against ISIS forces instead of the rebels fighting Assad. “I want to make sure that we focus on that threat”.

He also renewed a call for Russian Federation to keep military and diplomatic channels for dialogue open, insisting that Russia’s stance was turning the Syria crisis into a “crisis between Russian Federation and Turkey”.

Assad rarely gives interviews, but when he did on Sunday, he took the opportunity to blast Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“I don’t expect that you’re going to see a 180 turn on their strategy in the next several weeks”, Obama said at a press conference.

The former Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to prop up a pro-Moscow government, but had to withdraw a decade later after failing to beat Afghan guerrillas. Both pilots aboard the Russian warplane that was shot down on November 24th ejected and parachuted to the ground on the Syrian side of the border.

The Moscow authorities previously said the Su 24 were assaulting “terrorists” from the North Caucasus based inside Syria when the Turkish jets assaulted them.

Russian President Putin strongly believes Turkey was protecting oil that was being imported illegally from the terrorist group, ISIL. I will not remain in this post.

Russia Tuesday approved sanctions to be imposed on Turkey.

“It is obvious where we legally buy oil and natural gas from”, Erdogan said, as reported by Turkey’s Anadolu news agency. We are not using the same language as them… The official list included fruit and vegetables such as tomatoes, onions, grapes and apples, as well as chicken products.

Moscow also announced that starting January it will suspend a visa-free agreement with Turkey.

The United States and its allies are concerned the Turkey-Russia spat could further complicate efforts to reach a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Syria, where Russia and Turkey support opposing sides.

Obama’s meeting with Erdogan came as he wrapped up two days of negotiations with world leaders aimed at securing a major global climate pact.

“As the United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation have stated, we have serious concerns regardingRussian incursions into Turkish airspace”.

“They are Turkish descendants”, Erdogan said. The Turkish resort town of Antalya is “like a second home” to many Russian holidaymakers, he said, but refused to yield on Turkish security.

Bugun’s headline read “Turkey is not responsible” and cited the prime minister as saying Turkey is ready to hold talks with Russian Federation to defuse tension between the two.