Russian pilot’s body flown home from Turkey

{The body of the Russian pilot killed after his plane was downed by Turkey on the Syrian border is being flown home.}

Lt Col Oleg Peshkov’s coffin left Ankara’s Esenboga International Airport airport after a military ceremony.

The row between Turkey and Russia shows no sign of ending. Turkey’s prime minister said there would be no apology for “protection of our airspace”.

Russia said President Vladimir Putin would not meet his Turkish counterpart at the current climate summit in Paris.

The Turkish military issued a press release saying a Turkish garrison commander and a Russian delegation observed a military and religious ceremony before the body of Lt Col Peshkov left on a plane for Russia.

Lt Col Peshkov’s body had been flown to the capital from southern Turkey on Sunday.

Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu earlier said that the pilot’s body had been treated in accordance with Orthodox Christian tradition.

It was reportedly handed over to Turkish authorities by rebels from Syria’s ethnic Turkmen community in the Hatay region in the early hours of Sunday.

The exact circumstances of his death remain unclear but Turkmen rebels said they opened fire on Lt Col Peshkov and his co-pilot as they tried to parachute into Syrian government-held territory last Tuesday.

The other pilot, Capt Konstantin Murakhtin, survived and was rescued from rebel-held territory in Syria in a special forces operation that left another Russian dead.

Turkish forces shot down the Su-24 plane, saying it had violated Turkish airspace, which Russia denies.

Russia says it has been carrying out air strikes on Islamic State (IS) militants inside Syria, although Nato members have said it is also hitting rebel groups who are fighting both IS and Russia’s ally, President Bashar al-Assad.
‘Doing our duty’

On Monday, Mr Davutoglu said again that there would be no apology for the downing of the plane.

“Protection of our airspace, our border is not only a right but a duty for my government and no Turkish premier or president… will apologise for doing our duty.”

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, appearing with Mr Davutoglu in Brussels, said the alliance fully supported the right of member nation Turkey to defend its airspace.

He said there was concern about increased Russian presence in the region but that the focus was on calming the situation.

Mr Davutoglu urged Russia to reconsider the economic sanctions that Moscow had announced.

Russia said on Monday it would ban mainly imports of agricultural products, vegetables and fruits from Turkey, although it may delay the restrictions for several weeks to “ease inflationary pressure”.

Turkish industrial goods would not be banned for now but future expansion of the sanctions was not ruled out, officials said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Mr Putin had no plans to meet Mr Davutoglu in Paris.

“There are no contacts in the schedule, so far,” he said, adding that Mr Putin was expected to hold a media conference later on Monday.

Turkey and Russia have important economic links. Russia is Turkey’s second-largest trading partner, while more than three million Russian tourists visited Turkey last year.

SOURCE:BBC:[Russian pilot’s body flown home from Turkey->http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34963151]