Turkey’s president has told supporters that he was saddened by the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkish forces.
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“Travel operators and agencies should refrain from selling tourist products to Russian citizens that involves going to the Turkish Republic”. It was, he said, an “automatic reaction” to standing instructions given to the military.
Erdogan said that Turkey did not go looking to shoot down a Russian jet, but acted after it strayed into Turkish air space. It was the first time in half a century that a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member shot down a Russian plane and drew a harsh response from Moscow.
“Given Turkey continues to lead the bilateral relations into the gridlock and continues its de-facto assistance to ISIS militants (former name of the Islamic State), fails to take under control their movements within Turkey, continues to supply them with everything necessary and to support their activities inside Syria, we will not be able to re-introduce the visa-free travel agreement”, he said. “We wish it hadn’t happened as such, but unfortunately such a thing has happened”. “We are disturbed that the issue has been escalated”, he said, quoted by AP. “I hope that something like this doesn’t occur again”.
“If we allow our sovereign rights to be violated… then the territory would no longer be our territory”, Erdogan said.
“Russian President V.V. Putin has signed a Decree ‘On Measures to Guarantee National Security in the Russian Federation and Protect Russian Citizens Against Criminal and Other Illegal Actions, and on Special Economic Measures Against the Turkish Republic”, the statement said. He has also refused to take telephone calls from Erdogan.
The move comes as Russia started to question Ankara’s commitment to the fight against terrorism following the downing of a Russian Su-24 bomber on Tuesday by the Turkish Air Force over Syria.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with his French counterpart Francois Hollande during a news conference at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on November 26, 2015.
Denying the allegations, Putin has demanded a high-level apology from the Turkish leadership and a compensation for the damage.
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It said Turks should delay travel plans until “the situation becomes clear”.
