All news

Lawmaker says appointment of new Turkish PM won't change relations with Russia

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday instructed leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party Binali Yildirim to form a new government of the republic

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/. The relations between Ankara and Moscow will hardly change after appointment of a new prime minister in Turkey, first deputy chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s international affairs committee Vladimir Dzhabarov said commenting on the latest staff changes in the top echelons of Turkish power.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday instructed leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party Binali Yildirim to form a new government of the republic. Earlier, delegates of the party’s extraordinary meeting elected Yildirim the party’s chairman.

"Nothing will substantially change now. Erdogan is conducting a reform in the country aimed at making Turkey a presidential republic instead of a parliamentary republic," Dzhabarov told the Izvestia daily.

"As Binali Yildirim is considered a person close to the current president, he will play by the set rules. Besides, Erdogan has gone rather far in his anti-Russian rhetoric. He refused to apologize for the incident with the downed Russian plane, as he is afraid to lose face, and actually burned the bridges. So there will be no changes in the Russian-Turkish relations," he said.

The Turkish Air Force’s F-16 fighter on November 24, 2015 shot down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24M bomber, involved in Russia's antiterrorism operation in Syria, that Ankara claimed 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."

Pilot Oleg Peshkov was killed by militants from the ground after ejecting, the second pilot was rescued and taken to the Russian base.

The incident resulted in the severing of nearly all trade and economic ties between the two countries. Ankara refused to apologize for the downed jet and death of the pilot. Moscow put the blame for the incident on the Turkish authorities.