Turkish leader has regrets but no apology to Russia over plane shootdown

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed regret Saturday over Turkey’s shoot down of a Russian warplane and said he hopes Turkey can repair relations with Moscow at next week’s Paris climate summit. Still, he pointedly declined to apologize for the incident.

“We are truly saddened by this incident,” Erdogan told supporters in the western city of Balikesir. “We wish it hadn’t happened as such, but unfortunately such a thing has happened. I hope that something like this doesn’t occur again.”

It was his first expression of regret since Turkish F-16s shot down the Russian jet Tuesday on grounds of violating Turkey’s airspace despite repeated warnings. It was the first time in half a century that a NATO member shot down a Russian plane. Russia denies it was over Turkish territory.

Erdogan said neither Turkey nor Russia should allow the incident to escalate or lead to “saddening consequences.” It was the second day in a row that Erdogan has reached out to Moscow.

“Turkey did not down the Russian plane on purpose,” he said in remarks on Friday, according to the Daily Sabah. “It is nothing but an automatic reaction to a border breach, an exercise of the rules of engagement.”

The Turkish leader also renewed a call for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the climate conference in Paris, saying it would be an opportunity to overcome tensions.

While reaching out to Moscow, Erdogan also stopped short Saturday of offering an outright apology. “If we allow our sovereign rights to be violated … then the territory would no longer be our territory,” he said.

Putin has called the shoot down a “treacherous stab in the back” and insisted that the plane was taken out over Syrian territory.

On a more personal level, Putin has simply refused to take phone calls from Erdogan.

Asked why Putin hasn’t picked up the phone to respond to Erdogan’s two calls, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said that “we have seen that the Turkish side hasn’t been ready to offer an elementary apology over the plane incident,” the Associated Press reported.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also said he hoped a meeting between Erdogan and Putin would take place in Paris. “In such situations it is important to keep the channels of communication open,” he said.

After the incident, Russia deployed long-range S-400 air defense missile systems to a Russian air base in Syria just 30 miles south of the border with Turkey to help protect Russian warplanes. The Russian military warned it would shoot down any aerial target that would pose a potential threat to its planes.

Russia has also suspended visa-free privileges for Turkish citizens going to Russia, left Turkish trucks stranded at the border, confiscated large quantities of Turkish food imports and started preparing a list of economic sanctions.

At least 26 Turkish businessmen were taken into police custody in Russia’s Black Sea city of Krasnodar on Wednesday, according to Turkish diplomatic sources, the Anadolu news agency reported

Turkey, in turn, issued a travel warning Saturday urging its nationals to delay non-urgent and unnecessary travel to Russia, saying Turkish travelers were facing “problems” in the country. It said Turks should delay travel plans until “the situation becomes clear.”

On Friday, Erdogan went so far as to warn that Moscow “is playing with fire to go as far as mistreating our citizens who have gone to Russia,” Reuters reported