Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday warned his Russian counterpart not to “play with fire" by supporting the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime, which has killed hundreds of thousands of civilians in Syria.
Erdoğan's response came shortly after Russian President Putin accused Turkey of buying oil from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terror organization.
“Turkey is 'not so dishonorable' as to buy oil from terrorist organization," Erdoğan said during a public speech in the northeastern Turkish province of Bayburt.
He also responded to an earlier remark by Vladimir Putin who said: "Those who implement double standards in terrorism play with fire."
“I totally agree with him" Erdoğan said referring Putin's remarks about double standards and asked, “Is it legitimate to support a man [Assad] who conducts state terror?"
Moreover, the US has documented evidence that Russian companies and ISIL were selling oil to Syrian regime, Erdoğan said.
"Right, supporting [Assad's] regime that claims 380,000 lives in Syria and implements state terrorism, it is also playing with fire," said Erdoğan and added that hitting opposition groups in Syria under the pretext of fighting ISIL was also "playing with fire."
The Turkish president warned Putin not to play with fire, himself.
"We frankly recommend Russia not to play with fire."
Relations between the former Cold War antagonists went to a critical level after the Turkish military shot down a Russian SU-24 fighter jet near the Turkey-Syria border after it violated Turkey's airspace and disregarded repeated warnings.
Russia denied that its military violated Turkish airspace. However, NATO and the US confirmed the accuracy of the radar trace data Turkey shared which clearly showed the Russian violation.
It was not the first time Russian fighter jets had violated Turkish airspace. In early October, Russian warplanes breached Turkish airspace. Russian officials apologized and pledged that the incident would not be repeated. Turkey also renewed its warning on engagement rules, including a military response against violations of Turkish airspace.
“Using an incident in which Turkey's righteousness is accepted by the whole world as an excuse to torment our citizens who were in Russia to attend a fair is playing with fire. Irresponsibly hitting trucks in the region that are there for trade or humanitarian reasons is playing with fire," Erdoğan said, referring to this week's detainment and deportation of a group of Turkish businessmen attending a conference in Russia.
Earlier Erdoğan said that Turkey did not establish that the jet belonged to the Russian military, as pilots did not respond to the Turkish warning. He also said that Ankara did not want to escalate the incident.
He said the shooting down of the Russian warplane was not intentional, but simply a result of an automatic enforcement of rules of engagement.
Russia is obliged to prove its claims as Turkey did with radar images and sound records, otherwise they will be guilty of 'gross and unfair accusation', the Turkish president said.
Erdoğan also expressed his willingness to meet Putin during the upcoming climate change summit in Paris in order to find a common ground and avoid further escalation of tension, but the Kremlin denied his request, insisting Turkey should apologize to Russia.
"We see Turkey's unwillingness to simply apologize for the incident with the plane," Yuri Ushakov, Putin's aide, said on Friday.
But Turkey denied Putin's call and said Ankara did everything according to international and bilateral laws and regulations that supported by NATO and other international community.
Meanwhile Russian Foreign MinisterSergey Lavrov said his country decided to suspend the visa-free regime with Turkey from January 1.
Moreover, Russia's lower house speaker Sergei Naryshkin stated that Russia has the right to make a military response to shooting down the SU-24.
"This is intentional murder of our soldiers, and this deed must be punished," Naryshkin said.
However, Foreign minister Lavrov earlier ruled out any military action against Turkey.
Both countries expected to face some economic sanctions following the plane's downing, though Turkey has yet to express any further decision about Russian investment in Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant or other multi-billion dollar bilateral investment.
