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Russian Foreign Ministry: Turkey is making situation worse after Su-24 incident

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman commented on reports stating that one of the goals of the visit to Moscow by Turkey's Selahattin Demirtas were mediation efforts to mend relations with Russia
Russian Foreign Ministry Gennady Khamelyanin/TASS
Russian Foreign Ministry
© Gennady Khamelyanin/TASS

MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/. Russia has great doubts that Turkey realizes and is aware of what it did with Russia’s Su-24 bomber above Syria, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday.

In this way Zakharova commented on reports stating that one of the goals of the visit to Moscow by co-chairman of pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party Selahattin Demirtas were mediation efforts to mend relations with Russia after the bomber-related incident.

"The issue is not about mediators or mediation efforts, but about the realization by the Turkish side of what it did," she said. "What we see yet is that the Turkish leadership is only making the situation worse, at a fast pace."

"There are big doubts about Turkey that they realize well what they did and that they are aware of it," Zakharova said.

"We voiced our position, our assessments do not cover the Turkish people," the diplomat said. "We have underscored at the top level a few times, and we regularly state at a high level that although deterioration of bilateral relations will inevitably tell on people living in our countries, they [Russian measures] are addressed to Turkey’s leadership."

The Turkish Air Force’s F-16 fighter on November 24 shot down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24M bomber, involved in Russia's antiterrorism operation in Syria, that Ankara claims violated the country’s airspace on the border with Syria.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the Su-24M was above Syrian territory and "there was no violation of Turkey’s airspace." It said the Turkish Air Force fighter violated Syria’s airspace.

Relations between Russia and Turkey considerably deteriorated after the incident. Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Turkey’s attack will have "serious consequences" for Russian-Turkish relations.