Turkey Expresses Condolences to Russia over Death of Pilot

Everyone now knows Turkey will not hesitate to take necessary steps to ensure its security, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Friday.

Russia has however suspended talks on its joint Turkish Stream project to pipe gas to Turkey and southern Europe, Russia’s energy minister said on December 3.

Russia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov on Thursday met his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu for first talks after the downing of Russian warplane by the Turkish military forces. Since then, Russian Federation has announced a series of economic sanctions against Turkey.

Earlier in the day, Davutoglu highlighted the fact that Turkey had done nothing wrong by applying its rules of engagement and exercising its legitimate right to self-defense against an unidentified plane that entered Turkish airspace on November 24.

Lavov also commented on Turkey’s that “Russian citizens are involved in the purchase of oil from IS” to say it was unusual they came only after Russia presented its claims that the Turkish president and his family are involved in this illegal trade.

He said that Turkey had consistently asked to arrange such a meeting. Mr Lavrov called the sanctions “adequate”, adding that “most observers” agree.

A Russian pilot, Oleg Peshkov, was shot down by militants on the ground in Syria after he bailed out of the plane.

The package of sanctions include bans on some Turkish exports, a prohibition on hiring of Turkish nationals from next year and a suspension of visa-free travel for Turkish citizens.

The Russian foreign minister said he heard nothing new at the meeting, while his Turkish counterpart said the crisis was on the way to cooling down. “There are a lot of allegations being made, and I got into this yesterday quite a bit, alleging high-level involvement, including in Erdoğan – President Erdoğan’s family in illicit oil trade with ISIL”.

The follow-up question remarked that the USA is trying to cover for the Erdoğan family because they are being accused by Russian Federation.