Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu held informal talks Saturday with Valentina Matvienko, chairwoman of the Russian Federation Council, on the sidelines of Neutrality Conference in Turkmenistan's capital Ashgabat.
Without giving details about the talks with Çavuşoğlu, Matvienko said the two countries made contact through the foreign ministries and some other channels and neither Russia nor Turkey wants the relations to strain.
However, Matvienko underlined that the trust between Turkey and Russia could only be rebuild if Turkey formally apologizes to Russia for the downing of jet.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and FM Çavuşoğlu repeatedly said that Ankara would not apologize to Moscow over the downing of a warplane.
"I think if there is a party that needs to apologize, it is not us. Those who violated our airspace are the ones who need to apologize. Our pilots and our armed forces, they simply fulfilled their duties, which consisted of responding to violations of the rules of engagement. I think this is the essence, " Erdoğan earlier said.
On November 24, two Turkish F-16 fighter jets on an aerial patrol intercepted a Russian warplane within rules of engagement when it violated Turkish airspace near the Syrian border.
The Russian warplane received 10 warnings about its violation within five minutes before it was shot down.
This was not the first time Russian warplanes had violated Turkish airspace. In October, Russian warplanes violated Turkish airspace. Russian officials had apologized and pledged that such incidents would not reoccur in the future.
