Turkey apology over downing Russian jet

Turkey’s president has apologised to Moscow after a Russian jet was shot down at the Syrian border, Russian and Turkish officials said yesterday, a move that could open the way for easing a bitter strain in Russia-Turkey ties.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s move comes seven months after the incident, which has drawn a slew of Russian sanctions that have dealt a severe blow to the Turkish economy.

The formal apology, which the Kremlin had requested, would likely allow relations to improve.

Erdogan, expressed “sympathy and deep condolences” to the family of the killed pilot and apologised, Russian president Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Erdogan spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said, according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news-agency, that the Turkish leader expressed deep regret over the downing of the Russian plane.

Putin denounced the downing of a Russian warplane at the Syrian border on November 24 as a “treacherous stab in the back.”