The letter of the Turkish Sultan

Russia's policy in the Middle East is a game with fire, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. His words are given by the Hurriet newspaper.

Erdogan quoted the words of Russian President Vladimir Putin: "Those who have double standards in the fight against terrorism play with fire." “I completely agree with him (Putin. - Ed.), The Turkish president said.“ In fact, the support of the Assad regime in Syria, who killed 380 thousand people, is a game with fire. Blows on opposition groups having international recognition, under the pretext of fighting the IG, is a game of fire. The use of an incident, in which the correctness of Turkey has been adopted by the whole world, as a preposition for mockery of ours Citizens attending the exhibition in Russia are also a game with fire.

In addition, Erdogan called Putin’s statements unacceptable, made on Thursday at a press conference after a meeting with France President Francois Olland. Commenting on the accusations against Turkey of the production of oil from the Islamic State, the Turkish president noted that the United States documented oil trade between IS, Russia and the Syrian authorities.

At the same time, Erdogan expressed his readiness to meet with Putin at the upcoming summit in Paris by changing the climate in order to find a common language and avoid further escalation of tension. "We do not like attempts to link the incident with a shot down aircraft with relations in other areas. Let's not allow this to happen," the Turkish president said.

On Thursday, Erdogan said that Türkiye would not apologize for the shot down Russian bomber. “I think, if someone needs to apologize, then not us,” said Erdogan. “We need to apologize to those who violated our airspace.”

"The Turkish Air Force took measures to protect our border within the framework of its authority. We cannot interpret the situation differently," the president emphasized. He stated that Ankara will continue to support moderate rebels in Syria fighting against Assad.

Erdogan called the reaction of Moscow, in particular the threat to freeze joint projects, "emotional" and "unworthy politicians." According to the Turkish president, it is not directly related to the attack on the bomber.

After the death of the Su-24 in Russia, checks of documents from Turkish citizens became more frequent. On Thursday in Krasnodar, the FMS employees detained 39 Turkish businessmen for violation of migration legislation. All of them took part in the agro -industrial exhibition "Yugagro", where they represented the products of Turkish companies. Businessmen arrived in Russia as tourists without issuing business visas. Turkish citizens were fined and expelled from Russia.

On Wednesday, a column of trucks with Turkish humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees was attacked from the air in the north of Syria. The incident occurred near the city of AAZAZ a few kilometers from the Syrian-Turkish border. Seven people died, ten were injured. 20 trucks burned. Turkish human rights defenders and state media Turkey claim that the attacks of Russian VKS carried out strikes .