Turkey calls for dialogue with Russian Federation to narrow differences

Turkey’s prime minister suggested for the first time on Friday that a Russian jet was shot down on November 24 because Turkey could not “morally” allow it to trespass on Turkish territory before bombing areas in Syria that host ethnic Turkish populations.

“We will meet with the Turkish minister of foreign affairs, we will hear what he has to say”, Lavrov said after talks with his Cypriot counterpart in Nicosia.

This was the latest move by Turkey’s leaders, who are in an effort to diversify energy supplies as ties with its largest natural gas provider Russia have tumbled following the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkey.

“We heard nothing new”, Lavrov said, adding that the Russian side repeated its position.

Moscow and Ankara are deeply at odds over what happened when Turkey downed the Russian SU-24 fighter bomber near the Syrian border as it took part in the Kremlin’s air campaign against militants in Syria.

The Turkish strongman accused Moscow of “slander” and has rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demands to apologise over the plane incident, saying that Turkey was acting well within its rights to protect its border. He called Turkey’s downing of the jet a “treacherous war crime”.

The head of Russia’s state gas giant Gazprom, Alexei Miller, told journalists earlier today that Turkey would have to ask Russian Federation to renew talks on TurkStream. “Turkey does not have any decision to impose any sanctions on Russian Federation”, the Turkish diplomat said.

Davutoglu said in the joint press conference that the two countries would do “whatever is needed for the TANAP project”, to finish ahead of schedule.

“President Erdogan and his family are involved in this criminal business”, Antonov said.