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Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses a rally in Bayburt, Turkey, Friday, Nov. 27, 2015. Russia announced Friday that it will suspend visa-free travel with Turkey amid the escalating spat over the downing of a Russian warplane by a Turkish fighter jet at the Syrian border. Erdogan refused to apologize for the plane's downing, which Ankara said came after it flew for 17 seconds into Turkish airspace. At the same timed, Erdogan said he has tried in vain to speak by phone to Putin to discuss the situation.(Photo: AP Photo/Yasin Bulbul, Presidential Press Service)
ANKARA, Turkey<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan<span style="color: Red;">*</span>expressed regret Saturday over Turkey's shoot<span style="color: Red;">*</span>down of a Russian warplane<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and said he hopes<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Turkey can<span style="color: Red;">*</span>repair relations with Moscow at next week's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Paris climate summit. Still, he<span style="color: Red;">*</span>pointedly declined to apologize for the incident.
“We are truly saddened by this incident,” Erdogan told<span style="color: Red;">*</span>supporters in the western city of Balikesir. “We wish it hadn’t happened as such, but unfortunately such a thing has happened. I hope that something like this doesn’t occur again.”
It was his<span style="color: Red;">*</span>first expression of regret since<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Turkish F-16s<span style="color: Red;">*</span>shot down the Russian jet Tuesday on grounds of violating<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Turkey's airspace despite repeated warnings.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>It was the first time in half a century that a NATO member shot down a Russian plane. Russia denies it was over Turkish territory.
Erdogan said neither Turkey nor Russia should allow the incident to escalate or lead to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“saddening consequences.”<span style="color: Red;">*</span>It was the second day in a row that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Erdogan has reached out to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Moscow.
USA TODAY
Reports: Turkey shoots down Russian fighter jet
"Turkey did not down the Russian plane on purpose," he said in remarks on Friday,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>according to the Daily Sabah. "It is nothing but an automatic reaction to a border breach, an exercise of the rules of engagement."
The Turkish leader<span style="color: Red;">*</span>also renewed a call for a meeting with President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>climate conference in Paris, saying it would be an opportunity to overcome tensions.
While reaching out to Moscow, Erdogan also stopped short Saturday of offering an outright apology.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“If we allow our sovereign rights to be violated … then the territory would no longer be our territory,” he<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said.
Putin has called the shoot down a "treacherous stab in the back" and insisted that the plane was taken out over Syrian territory.
On<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a more personal level,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Putin has simply<span style="color: Red;">*</span>refused to take phone calls from Erdogan.
Asked why Putin hasn’t picked up the phone to respond to Erdogan’s two calls, Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said that “we have seen that the Turkish side hasn’t been ready to offer an elementary apology over the plane incident,” the Associated Press reported.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also said he hoped a meeting between Erdogan and Putin would take place in Paris.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“In such situations it is important to keep the channels of communication open,” he said.
After the incident, Russia deployed long-range S-400 air defense missile systems to a Russian air base in Syria just<span style="color: Red;">*</span>30 miles<span style="color: Red;">*</span>south of the border with Turkey to help protect Russian warplanes. The Russian military warned it would shoot down any aerial target that would pose a potential threat to its planes.
Russia has also suspended<span style="color: Red;">*</span>visa-free privileges for<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Turkish citizens going to Russia,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>left Turkish trucks stranded at the border, confiscated large quantities of Turkish food imports and started preparing a list of economic sanctions.
At least 26 Turkish businessmen were taken into police custody in Russia's Black Sea city of Krasnodar on<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Wednesday, according to Turkish diplomatic sources, the Anadolu news agency reported. Five returned to Turkey on Saturday.
Turkey, in turn,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>issued a travel warning Saturday urging its nationals to delay non-urgent and unnecessary travel to Russia, saying Turkish travelers were facing "problems" in the country. It said Turks should delay travel plans until "the situation becomes clear."
On Friday, Erdogan went so far as to warn that Moscow "is playing with fire to go as far as mistreating our citizens who have gone to Russia," Reuters reported.
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