Alwaght- Turkey apologized for the shooting down of a Russian war plane last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a meeting with Russian diplomats on Thursday.
The remarks by Putin come as officials in Ankara say they had expressed regret only not an apology over the incident.
Putin made the remark during a meeting with Russian diplomats in Moscow on Thursday.
Moscow-Ankara relations became strained when Turkish Air Force’s F-16 fighter on November 24, 2015 shot down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24M bomber, involved in Russia's antiterrorism operation in Syria.
Ankara claimed the Russian jet violated the country’s airspace on the border with Syria.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said the Su-24M was above Syrian territory and "there was no violation of Turkey’s airspace."
Pilot Oleg Peshkov was killed by militants from the ground after ejecting, the second pilot was rescued and taken to the Russian base.
The incident resulted in the severing of nearly all trade and economic ties between the two countries. Ankara refused to apologize for the downed jet and death of the pilot. Moscow put the
Moscow said the plane was brought down in Syrian airspace, where Russia has been conducting combat sorties against Takfiri terrorists since late September 2015 upon a request from the Damascus government.
Meanwhile, Putin on Thursday instructed the government to take measures to cancel the ban on charter flights between the Russian Federation and the Turkish Republic.
A relevant instruction is contained in the amendments signed by the president to the decree "On measures to ensure the national security of the Russian Federation and protection of citizens of the Russian Federation from criminal and other illegal actions and on the use of special economic measures against the Turkish Republic." The document was published by the Kremlin press service.
Elsewhere,Iran has voiced full support for the normalization of Moscow-Ankara ties, which soured last year over Turkey’s downing of a Russian fighter jet, saying the rapprochement could benefit the entire region.
On Thursday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said Tehran “welcomes the political will as well as measures taken by leaders of neighboring Turkey and Russia to mend their relations.”
Iran “hopes that normalized ties between the two countries would serve the interests of the Turkish and Russian nations as well as all people in the region,” he said.
The Iranian official also expressed hope that efforts to resume normal Turkey-Russia relations would bear fruit as soon as possible, saying such a political achievement could strengthen regional peace and cooperation as well as the fight against terrorism.
