All news

Sources in Erdogan's administration confirm letter to Putin — media

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s press-service has refrained for the time being from any comments regarding the presidential message to the Russian president
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan  Gokhan Tan/Getty Images
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
© Gokhan Tan/Getty Images

ANKARA, June 27. /TASS/. Sources in the Turkish presidential administration have confirmed that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had sent a letter to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, CNN Turk TV channel reported on Monday.

The content of the message has not yet been disclosed.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s press-service has refrained for the time being from any comments regarding the presidential message to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

As a Turkish presidential staff official has told TASS "there have been no instructions on that score yet."

"We can neither confirm nor deny anything related with this theme. As soon as we have an instruction or the text of the message, an official statement will follow," the press-service said. In the meantime, some Turkish media have said anonymous sources in the Turkish leadership have confirmed the very instance of a message sent from Erdogan to Putin.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said Erdogan earlier apologized for the downing of the Sukhoi-24 bomber.

"Russian President Vladimir Putin has received a message from Turkey’s President Erdogan where the Turkish leader expressed his readiness to settle the situation over the downing of the Russian warplane," Peskov said.

"In his message, the Turkish head of state offered his condolences to the family of the Russian pilot and said, ‘I am sorry’," he said.

The Sukhoi-24 bomber involved in the Russian air operation in Syria was shot down by a Turkish fighter on November 24, 2015. The pilot, Oleg Peshkov, was killed with machinegun fire from the ground while descending on a parachute.