Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan was trying to get in touch with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin seven or eight hours after the Turkish Air Forces downed the Russian Su-24 bomber on the border with Syria, said Russian president’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov while speaking to reporters on November 27.
“Yes, it was about seven-eight hours after the incident, not earlier. The president was informed on the request,” Peskov said.
On November 26, the Turkish president proposed to Putin to have a meeting in Paris during the Paris climate conference COP21, but, according to Erdogan, he has received no response yet. The Kremlin says no Putin-Erdogan meeting is planned.
The relations between Turkey and Russia became complicated after the Turkish Air Forces shot down a Russian Su-24 warplane. Putin called it “a stab in the back”. Erdogan refused to offer an apology. Ankara insists the Russian plane breached Turkish air space and was not answering to warnings; Moscow insists that the plane did not cross the border.
