Davutoğlu's remarks, made during a speech at a business gathering, comes amid escalating tension between Turkey and Russia after Turkish fighter jets downed a Russian warplane near the Syrian border on Nov. 24, saying the aircraft violated its airspace. Russia denies violation and has vowed retaliation.
Crimea, internationally recognized as part of Ukrainian territory, was annexed by Russia in 2014. The Black Sea peninsula is home to Crimean Tatars, who speak a Turkic language and have historical ties to Turkey. Tatars, who were forcibly deported from their native land by Stalin in 1944, are one of the most vocal opponents of the Russian annexation.
Davutoğlu vowed to support the territorial integrity and soverignty of Ukraine and enhance ties with Kiev.
He also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent accusations against Turkey were “unstatesmanlike.”
In remarks published in the Turkish media on Saturday, Davutoğlu said he did not take any of Putin's accusations against Turkey seriously, calling them "childish."
Putin has accused President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government of "Islamizing" the Turkish society and claimed that Erdoğan and members of his family benefit from an oil trade with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
"When he brought up allegations involving Mr. President's family, I called these allegations as 'Sovietic propaganda.' Now I look at Putin and see a Sovietic mindset speaking on behalf of Russia," Davutoğlu told a group of journalists as he was returning from a summit with EU leaders in Brussels. "It seems Putin still sees himself in his KGB days. But the KGB [era] is over. The era of Sovietic propaganda is over."
Davutoğlu said with every statement he makes, Putin causes a "sarcastic, mocking smile" outside Russia.
"These statements are not ones we would take seriously. I only smile at them. It would be an insult to take them seriously," he said.
[todayszaman.com]
19/12/15
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Turkey will not respond to Putin's 'insulting' remarks...
ReplyDeleteTurkey will not officially respond to Russian President Vladimir Putin's latest remarks on Ankara's downing of a Russian jet in which he called the act "hostile", according to Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
Local media reported the Turkish official as saying he does not take Putin's latest statements seriously as he labelled them as "undiplomatic and insulting".
The Turkish rebuttal came as Davutoglu returned from a meeting in Brussels with eight EU leaders where the refugee crisis, counterterrorism and the war in Syria were discussed.
On Thursday, Putin escalated the rhetoric by saying that Turks had decided to "lick the Americans in a certain place" as he accused of a "creeping Islamisation of Turkey that would have Ataturk rolling in his grave".
Davutoglu said: "Perhaps he's reminiscing about his old KGB days. But the KGB is long gone. The era of Soviet-style propaganda is history. With every statement he makes, the world mocks it sarcastically. We cannot take it seriously."
War of words
Tensions between the countries soared on November 24, when Turkey - which receives a significant portion of its energy from Russia - shot down a Russian warplane on the Syrian border for violating Turkish airspace, a charge Moscow denies.
Since then, the two nations have been locked in a war of words................http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/12/turkey-respond-putin-insulting-remarks-151219093832306.html