Russia bans cannot bring Turkey to knees: Davutoglu
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has slammed Russia for imposing a series of economic and military sanctions on Ankara for downing a Russian fighter jet in Syrian airspace, saying Moscow’s punitive measures would not bring Turkey to its knees.
During a Friday visit to Baku, Azerbaijan, Davutoglu remained defiant and said his country would not apologize to Moscow for what he called defending its borders.
“Those who believe that economic sanctions against an honorable nation like Turkey can bring it to its knees will be mistaken,” Davutoglu said, insisting once again that Ankara did not know the nationality of the plane it downed.
Tensions have been running high between the two countries since November 24, when Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24 fighter jet, which was on an anti-terror mission over Syria. Ankara says the Russian jet violated Turkish airspace, an allegation time and again denied by the Kremlin.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has slammed Turkey for refusing to offer an apology for the downing of Moscow’s fighter jet, ordering a raft of sanctions on Ankara, including a ban on imports of fruit and vegetables and the sales of tourism packages. Cooperation on a mega gas project and military ties have also been suspended.
Putin said Thursday that Turkey has committed a “treacherous war crime,” pledging to make Ankara “feel sorry” for its actions.
Davutoglu said that Turkey’s shooting down of the Russian jet came as Ankara could not “morally” allow the bomber to trespass its territory and then pound the ethnic Turkish population in northwest Syria.
The comments came after a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Belgarde which failed to soothe tensions between the two sides.
Lavrov said after the meeting that he heard nothing new from Cavusoglu regarding Ankara’s stance on the downing of the Russian jet.
Cavusoglu, who had previously urged an easing of tensions with Russia, expressed, for the first time, Turkey’s condolences over the death of one of the pilots on board the downed Russian plane.
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