Speaking before the Russian Federal Counsel in Moscow, Putin also once again accused Turkey of buying oil from the Islamic State extremist group, a charge rejected by Turkey and the U.S. Russian Federation insists the aircraft was above Syrian territory.
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Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has called the incident provocative and said Turkey has made the necessary response to Sunday’s incident.
Turkey is extremely dependent on foreign sources for its energy needs, with some 91 percent of its oil and 98.5 percent of its natural gas coming from overseas, which the majority of its energy coming from Russian Federation.
“It is possible to find different suppliers”, Erdogan said, referring to Qatar and Azerbaijan.
Erdogan this week visited the Gulf country Qatar where he agreed a deal for LNG purchases, while his Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu travelled to energy-rich Azerbaijan. Turkey said the plane was shot down because it violated Turkish airspace, while Russian Federation denied a violation had occurred and vowed serious consequences as a result.
“We continued to export goods”. “I don’t trust Russian Federation, but if Russian Federation is willing to help us kill some of these savages, then I’m more than willing to at least recognize that on this issue – maybe not on much else – but on this issue they are with us not against us”.
The president also lashed out at what he said were Moscow’s attempts to escalate the crisis. We are speaking a diplomatic language.
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“Turkey paused the Turkish Stream Project not Russia” Erdogan added that the Turkish Stream pipeline project which was planned to carry Russian natural gas to Europe through Turkey was not halted by the Russian side but the project was paused by Turkish authorities on account of failing to meet Ankara’s demands.
