ST. PETERSBURG, August 9. /TASS/. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday the incident with the downed Russian Su-24 bomber was a "tragic situation" that cast a dark shadow on relations between Russia and Turkey.
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"All know that the tragic situation with the plane fell like a dark shadow on our relations," Erdogan said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian and Turkish businessmen.
He said that another factor that had an adverse impact on Turkey-Russia relations was the activity of the organization of Turkish oppositionist and Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen. "The terrorists organization and the forces behind it sought to undermine our relations with you," he said.
The Turkish leader also spoke about the failed coup attempt in his country overnight from July 15 to 16. He said that night was "the darkest and bloodiest" one in the country’s history. "Thanks to selfless efforts of our people, the threat looming over our democracy, over our republic was eliminated," he said.
Apart from that, he touched upon the impacts of the attempted coup on the coup on the country’s economy. He said that "Turkey’s strong economy" made it possible to overcome the difficulties and stability has been preserved, which was testified by the stock exchange indices. However despite certain turbulences in the economy, Turkey goes on with the implementation of all of its projects, Erdogan underscored.