29-03-2024 03:27 PM Jerusalem Timing

Turkey Offers Face-to-face Talks with Russia

Turkey Offers Face-to-face Talks with Russia

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu offered on Friday to hold a face-to-face meeting with Russian leaders to settle the diplomatic row over the Russian warplane recently downed by Turkish jets in Syria.

Turkish PMTurkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu offered on Friday to hold a face-to-face meeting with Russian leaders to settle the diplomatic row over the Russian warplane recently downed by Turkish jets in Syria.

"I call upon Mr. [Vladimir] Putin and all the Russian leadership to handle our issue as we sit face-to-face and talk it over," Davutoglu said.

He was speaking Friday during a visit to the Azerbaijan Diplomacy Academy in the country’s capital, Baku.

Moscow has announced a series of economic sanctions on trade with Turkey and President Vladimir Putin has accused Turkey of involvement in illegal oil deals with the so-called 'Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant' (ISIL) takfiri group.

The fallout comes after a Russian SU-24 was shot down on Nov. 24 by Turkish F-16s i Syria while it was bombing dens ISIL terrorist group in the border region, in a move recognized by Russia as pro-terrorism action.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Thursday to step down if Russian claims that Turkey buys oil from ISIL proved true, despite  the video footages that show the oil trucks moving from ISIL-held refineries in Syria and enter barracks with Turkish flags.

During a press conference Thursday before his plane departed for Azerbaijan, the Turkish premier addressed the Russian people, saying: "We do not bear the merest uncertainty, concern or negative feeling towards Russian people. Turks and Russians are two great peoples that shaped the history of Europe and Asia together."

Thursday saw a fruitless high-level contact between Ankara and Moscow during a private meeting of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the OSCE summit in the Serbian capital, Belgrade.