(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said Turkey and Russia cannot easily discard each other as the tension between the two countries has soared since downing of the Russian jet. "We [Turkey and Russia] are two neighboring countries, two partner countries," said Kurtulmus in a live broadcast on Turkish TGRT News channel late Wednesday, according to Anadolu Agency (AA).
Kurtulmus said Turkey has been striving to do its best to solve the crisis and leave dialogue doors open. Following the downing of a Russian warplane that violated Turkey's airspace near the Syrian border on November 24, Russia announced sanctions against Turkey and President Vladimir Putin has alleged Turkish involvement in oil purchases from ISIS.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has challenged Putin and said he will step down if Russian claims that Turkey buys oil from ISIS are proved. He called on Putin to do the same if they are not.
Kurtulmus said that Turkish Foreign Minister Mouloud Jawish Ihsanoglu will meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in the coming days in the Serbian capital Belgrade, in the first direct meeting between the two countries after the crisis, expressing hope that the relations between the two countries will return to the old track.
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