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21:43 GMT
ANKARA, Dec 14 (KUNA) -- Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov said Monday his country expects Turkey to take three steps in order to overcome the tough row over the downing of a Russian warplane on November 24.
Turkey has first to apologize for the shooting down of the Su-24 aircraft and the killing of its two-member crew; second, bring to book those responsible for the incident; and third, pay damages to Russia, the Turkish Daily Cumhuriyet quoted Karlov as saying.
The Turkish leaders usually state desire for dialogue but their acts contradict their words, the Russian diplomat claimed.
In a related development, insiders at the Turkish presidential office announced cancellation of a Turkish-Russian Council meeting, originally planned to take place in Moscow on Tuesday under the co-chairmanship of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Erdogan and Putin planned, during the G-20 summit in Antalya, Turkey, in min-November, to convene the meeting but their plan was scrapped due to the downing of the Russian aircraft; they also failed to meet on the sidelines of the Paris Climate Change Conference from November 30 to December 11.
The Turkish-Russian Council, founded during a visit to Ankara in May, 2010, by the former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, is meant to cement the economic and commercial ties between the two neighbors.
The bilateral trade volume between the two countries amounts to USD 30 billion.(end)
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