“Protection of our airspace, our border is not only a right but a duty for my government and no Turkish premier or president… will apologize (for) doing our duty”, Davutoglu tells a joint press conference with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation head Jens Stoltenberg after talks in Brussels.
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Asked why Putin hasn’t picked up the phone to respond to Erdogan’s two phone calls, he said that “we have seen that the Turkish side hasn’t been ready to offer an elementary apology over the plane incident”.
The visa-free regime for Turkish nationals traveling to Russia will be suspended starting from 2016, the decree signed by the Russian leader says.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday called for sanctions against Turkey including bans on some Turkish goods and extensions on work contracts for Turks working in Russia.
Turkey is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation alliance.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmed Davutoglu said on Monday that it would be hard to prevent airspace incidents “if we continue to have two coalitions fighting in Syria”.
At Russia’s request, the pilot had been given Orthodox funeral rites, and his body would be handed over to Russia, he said.
The body of a pilot flying the Russian SU-24 that was shot down last week was repatriated, officials in Ankara told AA on Monday. Especially as it has been reported that if imports from Turkey are not quickly replaced, prices will rise. While Turkish officials say the plane had trespassed Turkey’s airspace, the Russian pilot who survived denied they ever crossed the limit and contradicts Turkey’s claim that they sent the plane repeated warnings before the attack took place.
The new measures against Turkey announced at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev also include limits on Turkish construction firms’ ability to sign new contracts in Russian Federation and restrictions on road transport.
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Turkey is one of the neighbours most affected by the 4-year-old civil war in Syria, having hosted 2 million refugees while calling loudly for the downfall of Assad.
