Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan [AJU NEWS DB]
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that he is ready to resign if allegations by Russian President Vladimir Putin are proven.
After the downing of Russian jet fighter by Turkish F-16 near the Syrian border, last Tuesday, Putin had expressed anger against Turkey. Earlier on Monday, the President claimed that Turkey traded oil with Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS or ISIL).
President Erdogan, currently attending UN climate talks near Paris, denied Putin’s accusations. According to the state-run Anatolia news agency, “I will say something very strong here. If such a thing is proven, the nobility of our nation would require that I would not stay in office,” the Turkish President said.
Erdogan and Putin are both attending the UN climate talks, but Putin had refused to meet The Turkish counterpart. Erdogan claimed Putin’s accusations are not true. “We are not dishonest so as to do this kind of exchange with terrorist groups. Everyone needs to know this”
Since the Russian jet fighter’s crash, the tension between Russia and Turkey is rising. Moscow is preparing retaliatory sanctions against Turkey. Turkey also did not back away. Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkish Prime Minister said Turkey did what was needed to do in order to protect its airspace and will not apologize, during NATO talks, Monday.
“Protection of our airspace, our border is not only a right but a duty for my government and no Turkish premier or president will apologize for doing our duty.”
However, Turkey showed an intention that they are ready to talk with Russia anytime.
“If the Russian side wants to talk, we are ready. If they want more information, we are ready; if they want to normalise relations, we are ready to talk,” the PM said.
아주경제 박세진 기자 = swatchsjp@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
![[OPINION] Election loss weakens Turkeys President Erdoğan](https://image.ajunews.com/content/image/2024/04/11/20240411153203838176.jpg)
