Putin Says still No 'Apologies' from Turkey over Downed Warplane
President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia had not received any apology from Turkish leaders over the downing of a warplane, nor any proposals to compensate Moscow.
"We still have not heard any articulate apologies from Turkey's highest political level nor any proposals to compensate for the harm and damage, nor promises to punish criminals responsible for their crimes," Putin said at the Kremlin in televised remarks.
"We believe treacherous stabs in the back from those who we considered partners and allies in the anti-terror fight to be absolutely inexplicable," Putin said.
Putin, who spoke ahead of talks with French President Francois Hollande, reiterated his call for the creation of a broad coalition to fight the Islamic State group which controls large parts of Syria and Iraq.
"We will continue our attempts to reach agreement with all the partners," he said.
The Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu responded to calls for an apology by saying: "We don't need to apologize on an occasion that we are right."
Turkey insists its forces repeatedly warned the Russian jet on Tuesday, an assertion backed up by the United States.
Some observers believe Ankara shot down the jet out of anger over Moscow's strikes against ethnic Turkmen in Syria, a minority it views as an ally in its struggle against Bashar Assad's regime.
Moscow claims the plane never crossed over the border from Syria, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has branded the incident a "planned provocation."
Turkey's military said it did not know the warplane was Russian and that it was ready for "all kinds of cooperation" in an apparent bid to defuse tensions.
The raging tensions have threatened to derail French President Francois Hollande's marathon effort to try to cobble together a broad anti-IS coalition that would include global and regional players.
After jihadists killed 130 people in Paris this month in attacks claimed by the IS group, the French leader traveled to Washington for talks with U.S. President Barack Obama and then met German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris.
Few expect the Kremlin talks to produce a breakthrough, however.
Experts say it is hard to imagine Russia and Turkey in the same anti-IS coalition given their stark differences on the Syrian conflict and the new tensions over the Russian jet.
Source: Agence France Presse
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