Russia's Lavrov cancels Turkey trip after jet downing

ANKARA

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday that he canceled his planned visit to Turkey Nov. 25 after Turkish fighter jets downed a Russian warplane and also recommended Russians travelling to Turkey to suspend their plans. 

“The critical mass of terrorist incidents on Turkish soil, according to our estimates, is no less of a threat than in Egypt,” Lavrov said in televised comments.

“For this reason of course we do not recommend that our citizens travel to Turkey for tourism or any other reason,” Lavrov said, speaking from Sochi.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned Russia’s envoy to Ankara yesterday after Turkey shot down a Russian military plane due to an alleged airspace violation, a Turkish diplomat has told Hürriyet Daily News, while Turkey’s defense attaché in Moscow was summoned to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Russian Ambassador Andrey Karlov was in Istanbul for the canceled visit of Lavrov, when the ministry summoned the Russian chargé d’affaires in Ankara. The undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry lodged a complaint about the Russian aircraft’s violation of Turkish airspace during the meeting.

In the meantime, Turkey’s defense attaché in Moscow was summoned to the Russian Defense Ministry following the downing of a Russian jet in Syria, Russian Tass news agency reported.

Lavrov was due to visit Ankara today for bilateral talks to discuss issues including Syria, the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Cyprus as part of a meeting with his Turkish counterpart.