The downing of the plane sparked a crisis in relations between the two countries, with Russian President Vladimir Putin calling it a “stab in the back” and demanding an apology from the Turkish leadership.
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The Turkish leader said he didn’t want tensions with Moscow.
Turkey shot down the Russian Su-24 bomber on Tuesday, saying it violated its airspace despite repeated warnings.
On Friday, Erdogan described Putin’s criticism as “unacceptable” and asked Russian Federation to prove its “grave and unfair” accusations. “They have to prove it, and if they can, Tayyip Erdogan will leave office”.
The incident marked the first time in half a century that a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member shot down a Russian plane, raising the threat of a military confrontation between the alliance and Moscow.
Also Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced the cancellation of visa-free travel between the two countries, stating that Turkey’s government had “crossed the line of what’s acceptable”.
“We see from the sky where these vehicles [carrying oil] are going”, Mr Putin said.
But Erdogan insists Putin should say sorry for flying into his air space.
Russia has deployed its advanced S-400 air defence system in Syria, the Russian defence ministry said today, with the weapons to be used to cover the area around its airbase in coastal Latakia.
At the same time, Erdoğan said he has tried in vain to speak by phone to Putin to discuss the situation and expressed hope they could meet at the sidelines of a climate summit in Paris next Monday.
“Our enemy is Daesh, Islamic State, it has territory, an army and resources, so we must create this large coalition to hit these terrorists”, Hollande said in televised remarks at the Kremlin, according to Reuters. “We expect the same understanding from our friend and neighbour Russian Federation”.
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In an apparent shift in the Russian position, Putin said Moscow is now willing to cooperate with opposition groups fighting ISIS, which could mean backing rebel forces opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who Russia considers its only ally in the region.
