On Monday, Turkish media, while quoting an unnamed security official, said that the two pilots involved in the downing of the Russian plane were also among the pro-coup soldiers detained by the police on Saturday morning.
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Putin and Erdogan put a seven-month-long rift behind them last month, when the Turkish leader apologised for his forces downing a Russian jet in November.
In mid-June, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan apologized for the death of the Russian pilot in a formal letter to Putin and expressed readiness to restore relations with Moscow. “That incident [Downing of the Russian plane] was orchestrated by a pilot who belongs to the parallel state”.
Talking to CNN Turk in the aftermath of the coup attempt, Gokcek said: “The parallels are responsible for the tension between Russian Federation and us”. “This is the key to success and we hope such process ultimately starts and the solution to the Syrian problem, like to any other problem in our turbulent world, relies on democratic principles, the principles of the United Nations Charter which declares sovereignty of its nations and their right to decide their future through free elections”, Lavrov said.
“I want to emphasise though that they are not based on trust, they define specific sequential responsibilities all parties to the conflict must assume with the intent to stop altogether the indiscriminate bombing of the Assad regime and stepping up our efforts against Al-Nusra”, Kerry said, referring to the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda.
The two Presidents are expected to meet in the first week of August, in their first face-to-face meeting since the rapprochement.
Putin called his Turkish counterpart after rebel soldiers used tanks, attack helicopters and fighter jets to try to topple Erdogan on Friday night, attacking parliament and the intelligence headquarters in Ankara while seizing a bridge and surrounding the airport in Istanbul.
The failed military coup claimed more than 290 lives while hundred were left wounded.
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More than 200 people have been killed in Turkey as a result of the coup attempt.
