Tensions are running high between the two countries after Turkey shot down a Russian plane over northern Syria on Tuesday, claiming the jet had entered its airspace.
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Erdogan said Thursday in an interview with France 24 TV channel that he had tried to call Putin after the incident, but could not reach him.
Turkish and Russian military officials held initial talks on the incident on November 25 as the office of the Chief of General Staff invited defense and military attachés from theRussian Embassy to military headquarters to inform them about how the incident took place.
“We have suffered the last 5 years from Turkish agression in Syria”.
The Turkish president said he hoped to meet Mr Putin on the sidelines of the climate summit in Paris next week.
Russia announced on Friday that it will suspend visa-free travel with Turkey amid the escalating spat over the downing of a Russian warplane by a Turkish fighter jet at the Syrian border.
“It’s very important right now for us to make sure that both the Russians and the Turks are talking to each other to find out exactly what happened and take measures to discourage any kind of escalation”, Reuters quoted U.S. President Barack Obama as saying at a joint news conference at the White House on Tuesday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday warned that Turkey had gone too far by shooting down the warplane, and said the incident could severely undermine Turkey’s interests.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters the Turks had asked for a meeting between the two leaders but said: “The president has been told about this request…”
One of the pilots was shot dead in Syria after parachuting out of the burning plane while the second was found safe and sound, but one Russian soldier was killed in a rescue operation.
Putin said the insignia were present on the downed aircraft and that also the United States was aware of the plane’s flight path.
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They were Moscow’s first combat deaths since it launched a bombing campaign in Syria on September 30.
