Turkey’s president has told supporters that he was saddened by the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkish forces.
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But China has its own worries about Uighurs from China’s far western region of Xinjiang travelling to Syria and Iraq to fight with militant groups there.
Russian Federation commenced precision airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria on September 30, following a request from Syrian President Bashar Assad, and has since destroyed over 3,000 terrorist targets.
Moscow is reeling after a Russian warplane carrying out strikes in Syria was shot down on the Turkish-Syrian border on Tuesday – an incident President Vladimir Putin described as a “treachery” and a “stab in the back”.
“As much as Russia is important for Turkey, Turkey is important for Russia”, Erdogan said.
Difference, however, remains between the two leaders over the future of Assad when it comes to the political solution to the protracted crisis in the war-torn country.
“We today agreed to intensify our joint work on the anti-terrorist track, to improve the exchange of information in the fight with terrorism, establish constructive work between our military specialists”, Putin said.
“In accordance with materials provided by air defense objective control systems, the Turkish plane was in the Syrian air space for forty seconds and it entered its territory by 2 kilometers and the Russian bomber did not violate the state border”, Bondarev said.
Putin today discussed the downing with his security council, particularly the “increased tensions over Syria against the background of Turkey’s aggressive and unpredictable actions”, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “But of course incidents like the destruction of our aircraft and the deaths of our servicemen… are absolutely unacceptable”, Putin said at a news conference, standing alongside Hollande.
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Serious consultations would be held with the USA on information exchange in Syria in regard to the downing of Su-24, said Putin.
