Lavrov to ease tensions with Turkey
MINISTER OPEN TO FIRST HIGH-LEVEL TALKS SINCE SHOOTING DOWN OF RUSSIAN PLANE
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday he was willing to meet his Turkish counterpart this week for the two countries’ first high-level face-toface talks since Ankara shot down one of Moscow’s warplanes.
Lavrov said Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was “insisting” on holding talks on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Belgrade today and tomorrow.
“We will not be evading this contact,” Lavrov said. “We will hear what Mr Cavusoglu has to say. Perhaps there will be something new after what has already been said publicly.”
Ties between Russia and Nato member Turkey have badly strained after Ankara last week shot down the Russian plane along its border with Syria.
Both sides have squabbled furiously over whether the jet breached Turkey’s air space.
Moscow has unleashed a raft of sanctions against Ankara, including banning imports of some Turkish foods, stopping the sale of package holidays to the country and reintroducing visas for Turkish visitors.
President Vladimir Putin snubbed a meeting with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the climate conference in France on Monday, after Lavrov had earlier scrapped a visit to Istanbul in the immediate wake of the plane downing. Erdogan has rejected Putin’s demands to apologise over the incident, saying that Turkey was acting well within its rights to protect its border.
US President Barack Obama on Tuesday met Erdogan and called on both leaders to end their dispute and focus on fighting the common enemy Daesh.
Asked by a journalist yesterday what Ankara could possibly do to mend relations, Lavrov said relations can no longer be “business as usual” due to the “hostile” act against Moscow.
“I am not going to talk about what Turkey should do. I believe our colleagues, our Turkish neighbours, should understand themselves what they must do,” he said, without elaborating.
No emotional sanctions
Erdogan, meanwhile, vowed yesterday that Turkey would not retaliate against Russia’s “emotional” sanctions imposed after the downing the warplane.
Russia has halted the sale of tours to Turkey — a key tourist destination — and is set to ban the import of Turkish fruit and vegetables as well as threatening other measures.
“(Russia) is our strategic partner, we will continue to provide them with products including food,” Erdogan said in an interview with Turkish reporters on board his presidential plane published in newspapers.