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Diplomat accuses Turkey of hushing up situation with Russian pilot killing

Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova drew attention to the recent refusal by the Turkish authorities to bring to account Alparslan Celik suspected of shooting the Russian pilot
Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS
Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

MOSCOW, June 10. /TASS/. The Turkish justice is trying to "hush up" the situation with the killing of Russian pilot Oleg Peshkov on November 24, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday.

The Russian diplomat drew attention to the recent refusal by the Turkish authorities to bring to account Alparslan Celik suspected of shooting the Russian pilot.

"This position of the Turkish Prosecutor’s Office cannot but cause serious concern," Zakharova said.

"An impression is created that the Turkish judicial system is trying to ‘entangle’ the situation with the arrest of Celik and is taking all efforts to ensure that the detention of such an ordinary criminal has nothing to do with the tragedy on November 24 and the true role of the detained person in complicity in the killing of Oleg Peshkov is being hushed up in every possible way," the spokeswoman said.

"We’re urging to take measures to search for and bring all those guilty in the pilot’s death to account - not only Celik but all those complicit in the case with the militants," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman

A fighter jet of the Turkish Air Force shot down a Russian Su-24 bomber on November 24, 2015. Ankara claims the Russian warplane violated the Turkish airspace while the Russian Defense Ministry has said the Su-24 stayed over Syria. The bomber’s crew ejected but one of the pilots, Peshkov, was killed by fire from the ground when he was parachuting. The second pilot was rescued and taken to the Russian airbase.