Putin: Turkish leadership supports radical Islamists

The leadership of Turkey conducts targeted support for the Islamization of his country. As TASS reports, Vladimir Putin stated this. “After all, the problem is not in the tragedy that we encountered yesterday, the problem is much deeper,” the president said. “We are observing,“ and not only we assure you, they see this all over the world, “the current leadership of Turkey for a significant number of years pursues a fairly purposeful domestic policy to support and the Islamization of his country.”

According to Putin, Islam is a great world religion, one of the traditional religions, including in Russia. “We ourselves support Islam and we will do this, but we are talking about the support of such a more radical direction, or, and this in itself creates a very unfavorable environment, an atmosphere, which at first glance is not visible,” the president added.

Putin also supported the recommendation of the Russian Foreign Ministry to refrain from trips to Turkey. “Well, after such tragic events as the destruction of our aircraft and the death of the pilot, this is a forced measure, and the Foreign Ministry does correctly, which warns our citizens about danger,” the president said.

Meanwhile, Moscow is waiting for an explanation from Turkey on an incident with the Su-24, a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry said . “At this stage, the question of the review of the Russian ambassador from Ankara is not yet considered,” the agency’s interlocutor emphasized. “We are waiting for an explanation from the Turkish side.”

According to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Ankara does not want the escalation of the conflict. The attack on the plane, Erdogan emphasized, was due to the security of the country. “The fact that the plane belongs to the Russian Federation became clear only after the Russian authorities stated this,” said Erdogan, speaking at the International Islamic Economic Congress in Istanbul.

On Tuesday, the Su-24 Russian bomber was shot down by an air-to-air missile from the Turkish aircraft F-16. According to the Turkish General Staff, the plane, flying about 5 kilometers in the Turkish airspace, came out of it. The head of the main operational department of the General Staff of Russia, Lieutenant General Sergei Rudski, in turn, said that "according to the exact data of objective control" , the Russian aircraft Su-24 did not cross the border with Turkey . According to the general, the Turkish side, before bringing down the Su-24, did not try to make contact with the crew of the Russian aircraft, and the attacking fighter of the Turkish Air Force violated the airspace of Syria.

Both pilots of the Russian bomber were bought up. One of them, according to the Ministry of Defense, died in the air. The second crew member was saved and delivered to the base.