BRUSSELS (Sputnik) – Ahmet Davutoglu warned that there will be no apology for downing Russian Su-24:
"No Turkish prime minister, or president or authority will apologize <…> because of doing our duty," Davutoglu said at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
At the same timeTurkey hopes Russia will reconsider economic response measures imposed:
"We hope that Russia will reconsider these reactions, these measures, which will be against our interests both," Davutoglu said at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
“We have been telling our Russian friends that their bombardment against civilians on our border is creating new waves of refugees which do not go to Russia or another country, but are coming to Turkey,” Davutoglu said at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Turkey’s relations with Russia suffered a setback after its fighter shot down a Russian Su-24 Fencer over Syrian airspace on November 23. Ankara has so far refused to apologize for the incident.
On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to boost national security and introduce economic measures against Ankara.
The Russian Defense Ministry maintains no civilian casualties have occurred in its air campaign against terrorist targets, which dates back to September 30 following a request made by Syrian leadership.
The anti-Turkey sanctions follow the November 24 downing of the Russian plane in Syria. Ankara claimed that it downed the Su-24 because it violated Turkish airspace. Both the Russian General Staff and the Syrian Air Defense Command confirmed that the Russian bomber never crossed into Turkish airspace.
