By KATHLEEN HENNESSEY Associated Press Bullets were still flying in San Bernardino when President Barack Obama, sitting for a scheduled television interview, issued a now-familiar call for more gun…
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On Saturday, Putin slapped a set of sanctions on Turkey in response to Ankara’s refusal to make any apology for the incident.
It was not Russian Federation but Turkey, which froze the Turkish Stream project, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, the Turkish TRT Haber TV channel reported Dec.5.
“We will work day and night and do whatever is necessary for TANAP project within the borders of the Republic of Turkey”, the Minister added.
“Those who believe that economic sanctions against an honourable nation like Turkey can bring it to its knees will be mistaken”, Davutoglu said.
Turkey said it shot down the plane after it violated its airspace despite repeated warnings.
The 40-minute meeting on December 3 was the first high-level bilateral talks between Russia and Turkey since the shooting down of a Russian warplane by a Turkish jet on November 24.
TANAP is planned to deliver natural gas from the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) to Europe through Greece, Albania and Italy via the Trans Adriatic Natural Gas Pipeline (TAP) as of early 2020. One of the two Russian pilots aboard was killed by militants when parachuting from the burning jet, while the other was saved by Russian and Syrian forces.
“Neither our conscience, nor our history, nor our morals could have allowed (the plane) to bomb innocent people by violating (our border)”, Mr Davutoglu said.
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Davutoğlu’s statement comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin threw any hopes of easing tensions onto the fire when he declared the incident a war crime on Thursday. Davutoglu said in the joint press conference that the two countries would do “whatever is needed for the TANAP project”, to finish ahead of schedule.
