Russian President Vladimir Putin, as promised, lifted sanctions against Turkey’s tourist sector, imposed by his government seven months ago, following an apology by Ankara for shooting down their warplane last year. When Turkey shot down the Russian warplane over its southern border with Syria last November Russia responded by leveling sanctions against Turkey. These measures included banning Russian citizens from taking package holidays along with charter flights to Turkey. Putin reversed these policies after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote a letter to Russia expressing his “deep sorrow” and “regret” for the warplane shoot-down and the subsequent strain on Ankara-Moscow relations. The two presidents spoke on the phone on Wednesday and promised to restore relations and cooperate together in the region. While Ankara denies that Erdogan had explicitly apologized for the incident President Putin insists that he did. “It is also known that Ankara brought apologies for the downed Russian bomber,” said Putin on Thursday, according to Russia’s state-run Tass news agency. According to Hurryiet news, Erdogan’s chief foreign policy advisor, Ibrahim Kalin, insists that Erdogan merely expressed his “deep sorrow” and condolences, but stopped short of an apology. An apology, as well as punishment for the Turkmen militants who gunned down the Russian pilot Oleg Peshkov after he ejected from his bomber, and reparations are Moscow’s demand for a full normalization in relations. The man believed to have killed Peshkov, Alpharslan Celik, is currently being tried in Turkey - a case the Russians are following. Other economic sanctions Russia imposed on Turkey, such as gas exports to that country, will be removed “on a gradual basis,” Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said.
