Erdogan apologises to Putin over death of Russian pilot

Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin received a message from Erdogan expressing his "sympathy and deep condolences" to the family of the killed pilot, and "asked to be forgiven".

The Kremlin then released a statement citing Erdogan as saying Ankara "never had the desire and the intention" to down the Russian jet.

Ibrahim Kalin, Erdogan's spokesperson, confirmed that the Turkish leader sent the letter saying he was "sorry" for the incident and offering condolences to the family of the pilot.

"I want to express once again that I share the grief of the Russian pilot’s family and send my condolences. Sorry about this," Erdogan stated in the letter, according to Kalin.

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In his letter, Erdogan called Russia “a friend and a strategic partner” of Ankara, with whom the Turkish authorities would not want to spoil relations.


"We never had a desire or a deliberate intention to down an aircraft belonging to Russia,” the letter read, according to a statement published on the Kremlin website.


According to the statement, Erdogan’s letter stressed that “the Turkish side undertook all the risks and made a great effort to recover the body of the Russian pilot from the Syrian opposition, bringing it to Turkey. The organization of the pre-burial procedures was conducted in accordance with all religious and military procedures”.


Ankara has treated the family of the dead Russian pilot as if it were a Turkish family and is “ready for any initiatives to relieve the pain and severity of the damage done”, the letter said.


The address by the Turkish leader also informed that a criminal investigation has been launched against the person suspected of killing the Russian pilot, the Kremlin said.


In addition, Erdogan expressed readiness to tackle security challenges in the region and fight terrorism together with Moscow, it added.


Turkish Hurriyet newspaper reported that sources close to Erdogan have confirmed that the letter with the apology was sent to Moscow.

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Turkey will not apologize for downing a Russian fighter jet it says violated Turkish airspace near the Syrian border, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an exclusive CNN interview Thursday in Ankara."I think if there is a party that needs to apologize, it is not us," he said from the Turkish capital. "Those who violated our airspace are the ones who need to apologize. Our pilots and our armed forces, they simply fulfilled their duties, which consisted of responding to ... violations of the rules of engagement. I think this is the essence."
In a meeting with community leaders in Ankara, Erdogan said, "If the same violation occurs today, Turkey has to react the same way."

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On November 24, 2015, a Russian Su-24 bomber, taking part in an anti-terrorist mission in Syria, was brought down by the Turkish Air Force.

The plane crashed in a rebel-held territory in Syria near the Turkish border. The pilots ejected, but one was killed by machine gun fire from the militants on the ground.

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Russian sanctions are now affecting Turkish tourism, construction firms and food exports, amid a bitter dispute over the Syria conflict.

The Kremlin reacted with fury when a Turkish F-16 fighter shot down a Russian Su-24 bomber on the Syria-Turkey border in November.
Russia has banned:

• The import of Turkish fruit and vegetables, poultry and salt
• The sale of charter holidays for Russians to Turkey
• Construction projects with Turkish firms in Russia unless a special exemption is granted

There are restrictions now on Turkish citizens working for companies registered in Russia.
And Russia has suspended work on TurkStream - a new Black Sea pipeline that was to boost Russian gas exports to Turkey.
Economist Erhan Aslanoglu says the sanctions are bound to have an impact on the Turkish economy in the short term, but in the medium term Turkey will recover.

He predicts that the cost for Turkey in lost business could be at least $10bn (£7bn).

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will announce his country's reconciliation with Turkey in Rome on Sunday, an Israeli official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential negotiations.

Before May 2010 Israel and Turkey maintained friendly relations, on that month however Ankara angrily suspended relations following an Israeli military raid on the Mavi Marmara flotilla, which was trying to breach Israel's blockade on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Turkey also reportedly agreed to serve as a mediator in talks to bring about the release of two Israeli soldiers' remains from Hamas custody.

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Turkey has threatened to renege on a landmark deal to curb illegal migration to the European Union if the bloc fails to grant visa-free travel to Europe for Turkey's 78 million citizens by the end of June.

If Ankara follows through on its threat, it would reopen the floodgates and allow potentially millions of migrants from Africa, Asia and the Middle East to flow from Turkey into the European Union.
Under the terms of the EU-Turkey deal, which entered into effect on March 20, Turkey agreed to take back migrants and refugees who illegally cross the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece. In exchange, the European Union agreed to resettle up to 72,000 Syrian refugees living in Turkey, and pledged up to 6 billion euros ($6.8 billion) in aid to Turkey during the next four years.

European officials also promised to restart Turkey's stalled EU membership talks by the end of July 2016, and to fast-track visa-free access for Turkish nationals to the Schengen (open-bordered) passport-free zone by June 30.

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In recent days, the Syrian army recaptured many villages that were controlled by opposition groups. With its recent advances, the Syrian army is now about 1 mile from Turkey’s borders in the Bayir-Bucak Turkmen region.


Izzet Sohta, who is in charge of military affairs in the Syrian Turkmen Assembly, told Al-Monitor, “Isa Pinar, Karaman and Hayat have been lost. We still control Yamadi, Sallur and Jip Toros, but the situation is extremely critical. We don’t have the means to confront the weapons used by a superpower.” In the Bayir-Bucak region, opposition groups fighting the Syrian army include Salafist-Jihadist group Jabhat al-Nusra, Ahrar al-Sham, Jund al-Sham, the Turkistan Islamic Party and the 2nd Coastal Division of Turkmens.


Abdurrahman Mustafa, former chairman of the Turkmen Assembly, also confirmed that the Turkmens lost some critical positions, but noted they have taken some of these areas back through counterattacks. “The struggle is not over. The Turkish government says that it is behind Turkmens. But as you know, the crisis has now become international and what Turkey can do is limited,” he told Al-Monitor.


Ankara’s policy of reducing the Turkmens to a useful card to play against the Syrian regime has thus collapsed.


The loss of Turkmen Mountain coincided with the moves to restore Ankara-Moscow relations.

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Syrian Turkmens (also referred to as Syrian Turkoman or Syrian Turks) (Turkish: Suriye Türkleri) are Syrian citizens of Turkic heritage and identity. They and their ancestors have lived in present-day Syria since Seljuq times in the 11th century.[SUP][12][/SUP]

During the Syrian Civil War, the Turkmen population of Syria have been involved in military actions against Syrian government forces and have looked to Turkey for support and protection. More recently, they united under one official governing body, the Syrian Turkmen Assembly and created the military wing of the assembly, the Syrian Turkmen Brigades, to protect Turkmen regions and population and prevent ethnic changes in them

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Russia, which was criticised by Turkey for having conducted operations near the Turkish border, a region inhabited by Syrian Turkmen and largely free of ISIL (though al-Nusra Front, the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, is present in the region),[SUP][45][/SUP][SUP][46][/SUP] was notified that Turkey's rules of engagement were in place and it would react to any violations of its border security. Turkey also warned Russia that it would not be indifferent to "attacks targeting the life security of Turkmen" in the Bayırbucak area.[SUP][47][/SUP][SUP][48][/SUP] The preceding week Turkey had called for the UN Security Council to discuss attacks against Turkish-backed Turkmens

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On 24 November 2015 at 9:24 am, as it was returning to Khmeimim airbase, a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 bomber aircraft with tail number 83 was shot down near the Syrian–Turkish border by a AIM-9X Sidewinder missile[SUP][51][/SUP] from a patrolling Turkish Air Force F-16 fighter jet.[SUP][52][/SUP][SUP][53][/SUP] The Economist reported that the two Su-24s were on their way to strike Syrian Turkmen targets.[SUP][48][/SUP] Syrian government forces supported by the Shiite militias and the Russian air force were fighting against Syrian Turkmen brigades, Army of Conquest and al-Nusra Front fighters.

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