The Minister of foreign Affairs of Turkey Mevlut Cavusoglu said in an interview with TV channel “Russia 24”, he was ready to personally apologize to the widow of the pilot of the su-24 Oleg Peshkov. He also added that Turkey is ready to provide financial assistance.
“We would like to provide material support to the family of the deceased pilot. I said Mr. Lavrov that he was ready to visit the widow of a deceased Russian pilot, if that is her consent to Express their apologies and condolences,” said the Turkish foreign Minister (quoted by “RIA Novosti”).
In an interview with Cavusoglu also commented on the situation in Syria. According to him, Ankara conducts a dialogue with Moscow on controversial issues, including the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The Minister noted that the most acceptable solution to the conflict in Syria is political, not military. Cavusoglu stressed that the views of Turkey and Russia do not diverge.
“For a ceasefire in Syria and find a political solution to the role of Turkey and Russia is very big. Here we try to bring our positions closer together, since stability in the region, the dialogue between Russia and Turkey is very important,” he said.
24 Nov 2015 Turkish fighter jet shot down a Russian su-24. In the death of the pilot Oleg Peshkov. Ankara claimed that the fighter had entered its airspace. In addition, Turkey stated that the pilots were warned about the violation. The staff, in turn, said that the plane did not cross the border.
The Russian side demanded from Turkey to apologize for the incident, but received them only after six months. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed regret in connection with the death of the pilot and condolences for the family of the deceased pilot at the end of June.
Erdogan’s words have been differently interpreted in Moscow and Ankara. The Kremlin insisted that the Turkish President apologized for the attack on su-24, but the Turkish authorities stressed that it was more about the words of regret. However, as he wrote Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, Erdogan, in a letter to Putin apologized to him in Russian. Message worked his spokesman Ibrahim Kalin, who along with translators and diplomats of the Embassy of Kazakhstan chose the word “excuse”, something stronger than “sorry”, but weaker than the “apology”.
Apology from the Turkish President was one of the main conditions for Putin to normalize relations between the two countries.
The deceased pilot of the su-24 Oleg Peshkov during ejection was shot from the ground by militants in the territory, which was under the control of the Syrian Turkmen. He was buried in Lipetsk on 2 December 2015. Peshkov was awarded the title of Hero of Russia.
